Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN

THE LIBRARY

OF
THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES

MARQUIS PENDEREL Dl BOSCOBEL

NOTES FROM THE LIFE OF AN
ORDINARY MORTAL

First Edition, March, 1911.
Second Edition, April, 1911.

NOTES FROM THE LIFE OF
AN ORDINARY MORTAL

BEING A RECORD OF THINGS DONE, SEEN

AND HEARD AT SCHOOL, COLLEGE,

AND IN THE WORLD DURING

THE LATTER HALF OF

THE IQTH CENTURY

BY A. G. C. LIDDELL, C.B.

WITH PORTRAIT

Mf/ CT/TCI behrounv e/xais Tlpiapov irapa
Mr;8e ra MijbeCijs irfvfffa KO.L Nio'/3)js.

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

1911

DA

565

TO MY SISTER

G. F. E. S.

1C23178

PREFACE

THE following pages contain, as may be inferred
from the title, the story of an ordinary life. As
regards the biographical part of the book, it deals
mainly with the surface of things, touching but slightly
on the graver thoughts and emotions which may give
to the most commonplace biography the value of a
"human document."

Many persons will think that a record so trivial
is not worth publishing. But there is undoubtedly
a considerable class who may be amused and even
interested by any memoir honestly written, and it is
among these that I hope to find some readers.

Numerous as are the autobiographies of " ordinary
mortals," they generally depend more on anecdotes and
" persons I have seen " than on the actual life-stories
of the writers, which are often sketchily handled. I
have ventured, therefore, to think that the events of
the life of an ordinary member of Society more fully
treated might possess a certain value of their own,
even if a small one ; and would perhaps some day
acquire a positive interest when the Society in which
they arose has ceased to exist.

Nor have I omitted the usual seasoning of anecdotes
and glimpses of celebrities when such have come in
my way.

So, instead of making more excuses, I will ask the
goodwill of my fellow " ordinary mortals " for my
adventure, and their indulgence for the inaccuracies

viii PREFACE

which must creep into a book parts of which depend so
much upon memory.

In conclusion, I must acknowledge the kindness of
Mr. William Blackwood, of Messrs. Macmillan & Co.,
and of the Editor of the National Review, in allowing
me to quote from articles written for their magazines,
and of Sir Edward Poynter, P.R.A., for permitting the
reproduction of his excellent drawing as a frontispiece.

A. G. C. L.

January, 1911.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND
EDITION

I AM pleased to find that a larger section of the
public than I have ventured to hope has been interested
in these memoirs, and that in consequence it has been
found necessary to issue a second edition within a
month of publication.

I have availed myself of this opportunity to remove
such inaccuracies as I have been able myself to dis-
cover, as well as those which have been brought to
my notice by correspondents ; and also to add a few
additional notes, which will, I trust, present the book
in a shape more worthy of the patronage which it has
received.

A. G. C. L.

April, 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
1846—1855

Birth— My Parents— East Sheen and its Inhabitants— Home Life-
Richmond Park — Ravensworth — The Little Princes— Trouville
— Ryde — Lord Hardwicke — Bramham — The Crystal Palace
Monsters— Early Characteristics— Wellington's Funeral.

pp. i— 16

CHAPTER II
1855—1859

Temple Grove— The White Lodge— The Prince of Wales— My First
Play— Trouville— Ryde— Paris— The Northern Circuit— The
Wortleys — Ravensworth — Begin Shooting . . pp. 17 — 24

CHAPTER III

1859 — 1864

Balston's — First Friends — Pastimes — Daily Life — Socking — " Pass-
ing " — Our Lessons — Catapult — Harrow Match — Warre —
Poetical Attempts — Day — Dance at Frogmore — " Lords " again
— The Rifle Corps — Ballistics — Tortoise Mania — Staplehurst —
Captain Legard — William Johnson — Marriage of the Prince of
Wales — Nautical Cricket — Confirmation — " Judy " — Leaving
Books . . . . . » . . */>. 25 — 49

CHAPTER IV
1864—1865

Boughrood — Life at the Rectory — Death of my Brother — Fishing in
the Wye — My Character — Figure as a Poacher — Matriculation
— Adventure with Bees — Tour in Switzerland . . pp. 50 — 57

x CONTENTS

CHAPTER V
1865—1869

Balliol in 1865— The Dons— Breakfasts— R. T. Reid— Morrison's
Fours — Smalls — Cricket — Oxford Society — Reading Party —
No. 5 Staircase — Essays — Equestrian Experiences — Meteors —
A Plot — Sailing to London — Work for " Greats " — Zeit-geist —
Jowett — Lodgings — " Rokins " — Reading Party at Tummel —
Jowetfs Habits— The Giggles— William Graham— The Twelfth
— Sacrament Sunday — Corpach — Green and Jowett Compared
— " Greats " — Cowes — Mrs. Cameron — Changes in Home
Life — Ravensworth — Wimpole — Bramham and Hunting —
Wildernesse — J. W. Burgon . • » . . pp. 58 — 91

CHAPTER VI

1870

Rome in 1870 — Storey's Studio — Funeral of Grand Duke of Tuscany
— George Lane-Fox — Converts — Social Life — Balls at the Sala
Dant6 — Italian ditto — Bal Masqu6 — Carnival— Art — Football —
Baths of Caracalla — The Pantheon — An American Tourist —
Ticket-Taking — Marionettes — My Professor — Dinner at English
Embassy — Jockey Club — Senate — Brigands — Naples — Pompeii
— Ascent of Vesuvius — Bologna — Milan — Princess Margharita —
Venice — Protestantism in Italy — Vienna — English Embassy —
The Little Archduchess — The Bear-cubs — Queen's Birthday —
The Races ........ pp. 92 — 113

CHAPTER VII

1870—1876

First London Ball — Lady Elcho — Old Lord Wemyss — Lord Elcho
—Dancing Lessons — Death of F. Charteris — Franco- Prussian
War — Stobhall — Gordon Castle — Drumlanrig — A. B. Dixon's
Chambers — Thomas Carlyle — Barons Martin and Bramwell —
My Duties as Marshal — Visit to John Day — The Western
Circuit — Adventure on the Dart — Bodmin — Bristol — Go Marshal
on Oxford Circuit— Quain and Grove, JJ. — To Oxford by Water
— The Oxford Circuit — Dresden — Bowen's Chambers — The
Tichborne Case — Eslington — Durham Sessions — My First Brief
— R. G. Williams — My First Assizes — Life at the Bar — Visits
on Circuit — Unfitness for the Law — Dockers — First Important
Case — Holly Grove — Life in London — Devilling — Reporting for
The Times — Stobball — My Shooting — Dresden — Division of the
Circuit — Grand Court — Constance Lawley — My Drawing —
Tennyson . . • « . . . . pp. 114 — 150

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER VIII
1876—1879

The Municipal Corporations Commission — My Diary — Varied
Occupations — Matthew Arnold — Opening of Parliament —
Archie Wortley— All Souls' Chapel— George Eliot— Balliol Club
— Norway — Copenhagen — Legros — Abbey Leix — Mr. Gladstone
— Chillingham — Gosford — Lord Ravensworth — Fitz's — Rock-
ingham — A Trying Moment pp. 151 — 168

CHAPTER IX
1879

Braunfels — The Forstmeister — Social Life — German Dignity —
Education — Fashions — Billeting — A " Bier " at the Schloss —
Sedan Dinner — An Ober- Punch — Sketching — The Chase — Deer
— Partridge Shooting — Our Dogs . . . . pp. 169 — 182

CHAPTER X

1879—1881

Return Home — Sir J. Karslake — The Hardwicke — The Bar Again —
Curious Cases— Greek Play — Bowen's Politeness — Stanway —
Lochinch — Scott- Russell — Sandringham — Matthew Arnold —
Abolition of Old Courts — Burton on Carlyle — A. Barratt —
A Murder Defence — The Glamis Ghost — The British Associa-
tion — Affaric — Arndilly — Access to Mountains — Wilton —
G. Pembroke pp. 183 — 197

CHAPTER XI
1882—1883

Professor Owen — Snapshots — Abbey Leix — The Old Home — Fiji —
Odette — Visit to French Schools — A French Government Office
— French Schools compared with English — A " Cellule " — The
Skeleton at the Feast — A Portent — A Deer-drive — Loch
Luichart — The " Ajax " — Reformatory School Commission in
Ireland — English and Irish Schools compared — Foundation
Stone of Gosford — A Brief from Freshfields — The Pre-
Raphaelites at Oxford — The " Souls " — Lord Cowper — Wrest

pp. 198—213

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII

1883—1885

Queen Victoria's Travelling — Revising Barristership — Priestman v.
Thomas — The Trawling Commission — Examinership — Royal
Academy Lectures — Tableaux Vivants — Mells — Huxley — Laura
Tennant — The Grantully Castle — The Glen — Explosion at the
House of Commons — Mr. Goschen — My Father's Death —
Tynemouth Wards — Watts — Mr. Tomline — Rodono — Revision
— The Admiralty — St. George's . . . . pp. 214 — 234

CHAPTER XIII

1885— 1886

Examinership — Mardy Colliery Enquiry — Ipswich Election Petition
— Henry Matthews — Baronscourt — The Dales — Revision Cir-
cuit— Intellectual Games — Laurence Oliphant— Offer of Chief
Clerkship in Crown Office pp. 235 — 244

CHAPTER XIV

1886—1890

Chief Clerkship in the Crown Office — Parliament and Life in
London — The Jubilee — Naval Review — Osterley — Watts —
Verestchagin — Riots in London — Departmental Registration —
Whales — Killarney — F. Maitland — The Phonograph — G. O.
Trevelyan — Sir F. Gorst — Plymouth — Sackville Fox — I am
called as a Witness — Monkshatch — Royal Grants — Judge
Holmes — Mr. Chamberlain on Ghosts — America — Knole —
Tour in Tyrol— Taken for Mr. Parnell— The Oxford House-
Mr. Gladstone — The German Emperor in Norway — Dereen —
Parnell ^ . . pp. 245 — 276

CHAPTER XV
1891 — 1892

The Ecclesiastical Secretaryship — The German Emperor — Torloisk
— Staffa — Society — Mr. Gladstone again — G. Curzon — Mr.
Sargent — Lord Salisbury — The General Election — Gainsford
Bruce, J pp. 277 — 290

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XVI

1892 — 1895

Service under Lord Herschell — Parliamentary Ceremonies — Tummel
Bridge — A well-ordered House — British Museum — Dereen —
Somerset House — Home Rule Bill — Lord Roberts — Castle
Menzies — The Lord Chancellor and the Magistracy — Mr.
Chamberlain — Loseley — A Wild Beast — English Inefficiency —
Hewell and Hagley — Cromwell's Statue — The Frozen Thames —
The End of Wilton — Return of the Unionists . pp. 291 — 303

CHAPTER XVII
1895 — 1899

Naval Review — Tour in Italy — Blowitz — B. Constant — Society and
Parliament — Mr. Fox's Funeral — C. Rhodes — Watts — Lord
Selborne — Service in the Abbey — Hornby — Death of Mr. Glad-
stone— A Wreck — Cromer — A Paper Mill — Bowood — Miss F.
Shaw — Committee on County Courts — Women on Town
Councils — The Boer War — Eton Revisited . . pp. 304 — 321

CHAPTER XVIII
1900 — 1902

The Queen — Boers and Britons — Hever — A Writ of Dedimus — Lord
Russell of Killowen — Our Soldiers and Colonials — Echoes of the
War — MSS. at Murray's — Death and Funeral of the Queen —
King Edward opens Parliament — Court of Claims — Trial of
Earl Russell — The Yeomanry — Downside — Plymouth — Fishers
Hill — Peace — Illness of the King — The Indian Festivities —
Ockham — Lord Kitchener — The Mysore Mine — Strange Visitors
— Mr. Balfour on Dizzy — Lord Hugh Cecil . . pp. 332—337

CHAPTER XIX
1903 — 1906

Sale of Pearls — Preferential Tariffs — Revival of the Past — Accession
and Death of Lord Ravensworth — Narrative and Notes — The
Rescue of the Caddies — The Defence Committee — Report
on the Japanese War — Sir F. Younghusband — North-East
Norfolk — Aureoles — Dr. Jameson — Beginnings of Tariff Reform
— Mr. Chamberlain — Sir F. Bridge — The New Lord Chancellor
— Tring — Sir James Reid — Secular Education — Finis.

PP> 338—356

INDEX . . . ; 357

CHAPTER I

1846—1855

Birth — My parents — East Sheen and its inhabitants — Home life
— Richmond Park — Ravensworth — The little Princes — Trouville
— Ryde — Lord Hardwicke — Bramham — The Crystal Palace
Monsters — Early characteristics.

I WAS born at Bramham House, near Tadcaster, on
the 29th June, 1846. My mother was then staying
at the home of her father, George Lane-Fox, who,
since the destruction of Bramham Park by fire some
twenty years before, had lived in the village of
Bramham.

My grandfather was one of the " Giants who were
in those days " to be found in the upper classes,
whose native vigour was being attacked by gout, but
had not yet succumbed to nerves. He held strong
views on many things, among others, on the dignity
of Mr. Fox, of Bramham ; and it was related that
once, when his eldest son was returning from Oxford
in a post-chaise drawn by a pair of horses only, his
parent passed him on the road without any sign of
recognition. At the time of my birth he was a martyr
to gout, of which he died shortly afterwards.

My mother was the youngest of three children.

L.L. B

2 MY FATHER [I.

Her only brother, George Lane-Fox, was afterwards
a well-known figure in society and the sporting
world, and will reappear in this history. She lived a
great deal at Bramham, made much of by her father
and governess, and was brought up with an ignorance
of the outside world unusual even in those quiet days.
She had good looks and good abilities, especially as a
musician. A few years after she married her health
gave way, and she was an invalid for the rest of
her life.

My father, Adolphus Liddell, was the eighth and
youngest son of the second Lord Ravensworth. He
had been at Eton and Christ Church, and after getting
a fellowship at All Souls, joined the Common Law
Bar and the Northern Circuit. He had known the
younger George Fox at Oxford, and so it happened
that when on circuit at York he was asked to
Bramham, and made my mother's acquaintance.

His portrait I am hardly competent to draw, as in
childhood and boyhood I worshipped him, and never
to the end of his life beheld him with the same eyes
as I did other men. He was of a type not uncommon
in the North, of fresh complexion and solid build,
with a large head and broad shoulders, but small
hands and feet. In practical common sense and in
intellectual and artistic tastes and beliefs he was like
other cultivated English gentlemen of his day. But
his physical vigour was exceptional, as was the
kindliness and gaiety of his nature, and his flow of
animal spirits, resulting, till he was well on in middle
life, in a constant stream of fun and chaff. Behind all
this lay a genuine reverence for all forms of truth
and goodness, and a force of character, which, in
spite of his pleasure-loving nature, led him to take

1846-55] EARLIEST DAYS 3

the right path in difficulties which would have turned
many a more serious man.

He was exceptionally popular with all classes, and
had troops of friends and acquaintances. With
children especially he was in his element, and not
merely with his own, but with all he met. He entered
into their games and jokes, and adopted their phrases
and fancies, developing them, or inventing on his own
account with such good nature and insight that it
never occurred to his little friends that he was not
enjoying himself as much as they were.

While searching for earliest recollections, it is diffi-
cult to distinguish between actual memories and
pictures formed after the events to which they relate
from stories told us about ourselves, which, often
repeated, at last take the shape and colour of real
events.

My first memory is a scene in the drawing-room of
a London house. I am standing on a stool in front of
the window in a large room, fishing in a china bowl
for tin fish with a magnetic hook. The bright colours
of these tin fishes and ducks gave me as a child great
pleasure, which the sight and smell of these toys to
this day vividly recalls.

In 1849 my father took a small place at East Sheen,
called Park Cottage, which was our home till 1868. It
was a picturesque little house with about eleven acres
of garden, in the middle of which was a relic of earlier
times in the shape of about an acre of jungle, gorse,
brambles and other wild growth.

There was then a pleasant society living at East
Sheen, many of whom became friends of our parents
and of ourselves as we grew older, and whose names
will appear in these pages.

B 2

4 PROFESSOR OWEN [I.

Professor Owen, the great anatomist, was our next-
door neighbour. He soon became intimate with my
parents, being attracted by my mother's music, and
spending many an evening at chess with my father.
A path was formed through the hedge which separated
our two gardens, and he would often bring some
interesting friend over to see us, or would ask us to
his house to enjoy the society which gathered round
him. He was one of the best talkers I have ever met,
and had a special gift of making things clear and
interesting to children. His stories to my sister and
myself of the habits of animals, and his descriptions of
the places where they lived, were to me better than
any books. Many a delightful evening have I spent in
his hospitable cottage, when after talk he and my father
settled down to chess, and I occupied myself with the
" thaumascope," a toy which anticipated the wonder of
the cinematograph ; looked at " Audubon's Birds," or
studied that immortal work, " Brown, Jones and
Robinson," to my great and endless benefit.

Externally the Professor was a characteristic figure.
Tall and shambling in his walk, he had a great head,
rather a red nose, and a rugged face, lit up by a pair of
large bright eyes full of intelligence and kindness.
He used sometimes to come bowling down our garden
on the way to his house, in a great wide-awake, the
skirts of his black cape flying behind him, looking like
Merlin loosed upon a modern world.

Sir Henry Taylor, the poet, was another neighbour.
He also wore a cape and a wide-awake, an uncommon
get-up in those pre-aesthetic days, but otherwise bore
no resemblance whatever to the Professor. He was a
tall man, though he had rather a stoop, with a very
fine head and a long grey beard, and a somewhat

1846-55] MRS. CAMERON 5

languid, dreamy expression. His voice and way were
attractive, though some persons thought him affected,
as he could nol pronounce his r's, and his diction was
somewhat high-flown, as became a philosopher and
poet. My recollection is that he could make himself
very agreeable, and was popular with my mother and
the other ladies of Sheen, while the men were inclined
to scoff at his unlikeness to the ordinary type.

The only other public character, though she had not
then become one, was Mrs. Cameron, a clever and
eccentric, but very kind person. She had an intense
devotion for great men in general, and Henry Taylor
in particular. From what I can remember her devotion
must have had its drawbacks, as she not only laid on
the butter very thick, but took almost entire possession
of her idol. With any ordinary person this phrase
would not mean much, but Mrs. Cameron had such
indomitable resolution and utter indifference to snub-
bing, that I fancy the idols, or at any rate their
families, often found her worship somewhat excessive,
as the following story will show. About that time a
horrible amusement called " decalcomanie " came into
vogue, by which strips of coloured pictures and designs
of an inferior kind were transferred from paper on to
wood or china. Sir Henry Taylor had lately built a
new house in Upper Sheen, at which Mrs. Cameron
was put up for the night in the best bedroom, which
had been elegantly furnished in a light-coloured wood.
Early on the following morning the guest appeared,
pale and exhausted, in the hosts' bedroom, and would
not be satisfied till she had roused them from their
slumbers and forced them to visit her apartment,
where she triumphantly displayed to their disgusted
vision the wardrobes and washhand-stands swarming

6 FIRST BOOKS [I.

with the creations of this tawdry art, to the elabora-
tion of which she had devoted the entire night.

The early days at Sheen, till I went to school in
1855, were very happy ones.

My mother's ill-health had not become marked, or
at any rate we did not understand its extent, and my
sister and I, when our lessons were over, enjoyed
ourselves in the garden, which seemed a boundless
region full of surprises and attractions.

I shall therefore endeavour to give a general account
of our pursuits during the time above-mentioned,
though they all began gradually, and must not be
thought to have been followed to the full extent till two
or three years later.

The enchantment of the garden was greatly en-
hanced by reading the works of Captain Mayne Reid,
which were the first works of fiction that strongly
impressed me. I can well remember the enjoyment
of sitting down at the nursery table, after tea had been
cleared away, to a spell of "The Boy Hunters," or
"The Desert Home," by the aid of a tallow dip; and
what a struggle it was to read the chapters on Botany
or Natural History (a duty strictly enjoined upon us),
when the hero had been left at the end of a bough,
along which a grizzly bear was approaching. The
result of these studies was that I found prairies in the
open spaces, and caves in the thickets of our garden ;
where I pursued the buffalo and fled from the Red
Indian all day, naming them after the scenes depicted
by my author.

Occasionally I was accompanied in these pastimes
by a boy somewhat older than myself, the son of our
gardener, who instructed me in birds'-nesting and in
distinguishing the eggs of the common birds. Among

1846-55] JUVENILE OCCUPATIONS 7

these figured a certain mysterious fowl called, as I
thought, a " Larchear," in whose history I always felt
there must be something uncanny, as it seemed to
build dirty, funereal-looking nests, and never to lay any
eggs. I never happened on one of these " Larchear's "
nests without a feeling of awe, and was always dreading
the moment when I should see a "Larchear," until,
many years afterwards, it struck me that there was no
such animal, but that it was my comrade's way of
announcing that the nest had been built last year
which had given me this erroneous impression.

Another amusement which occupied a great part of
my leisure was sailing small boats. It began by the
Professor giving us a dilapidated schooner, which had
belonged to his son, then grown up. This craft my
father set to work to fit out, and it may be imagined
with what absorbing interest I watched the process in
the winter evenings, and the delight with which I saw
the small blocks and dead-eyes which he had bought
for the rigging, and held the spars and masts while he
scraped them with glass.

Riding in those days was a necessary part of a boy's
education, so a small and shaggy Shetland pony having
been procured, I began my career as a horseman under
the charge of the washerwoman's son. Why this
youth, who did not know the head of a horse from its
tail, was selected I do not know. But the result was
fatal. On my first expedition he allowed the pony to
get away and bolt with me along the high road. I was
terrified, and eventually fell off, though without injury.
But the effect was that I never again got on a horse,
and never shall do, without a feeling of apprehension,
which is fatal to anything like horsemanship. How-
ever I was made to go on with it, and rode constantly

8 RICHMOND PARK [I-

with my father till I went to school, though I never
enjoyed it as I ought to have done.

These were the chief of our regular occupations ; but
the greatest treat of all was when my father was able
to stay at home all day, and we were allowed to be
with him while he worked in the garden or took us for
a walk. Not long after we came to Sheen he began
to cut a winding path through the patch of wild ground
in our garden, which I have mentioned above. This
work aroused in us all the interest of exploring the
unknown, not unmixed with fear that some strange
beast might be lurking in the thickets which were
penetrated by the axe.

One of the reasons which had induced my father to
take Park Cottage was the proximity of Richmond
Park, of which his brother Augustus was Deputy
Ranger. The Duchess of Gloucester, one of
George III.'s daughters, occupied the White Lodge as
Ranger during the summer, my uncle and his family
living with her. This was a great advantage to us, as
the Duchess was very kind to children, and we saw a
good deal of our cousins. Sometimes, as I grew older,
I was allowed to accompany my uncle and father when
they had a scratch day's shooting in the Park, which
was then well preserved, or even to walk on the
regular shooting days when the Duke of Cambridge
and a party shot the coverts.

The foregoing paragraphs will give some idea of
our life at Park Cottage, where we spent most of the
year, making occasional visits, or going away for my
father's summer holidays.

One of these visits, made some time in the early
fifties, was to Ravensworth, the Stammhaus of the
family near Newcastle, where we went to stay with

1846-55] RAVENSWORTH 9

my grandfather. Ravensworth was a large, castellated
structure on the site of an older house, of which two
fine old ivy-covered towers were left as ornaments of
the new stable yard.

My grandmother, after having been mother to a
family of sixteen, had died a few years before. My
grandfather, who was then about seventy-six or seven,
was a fine-looking old gentleman, tall and stout,
and dressed in an old-fashioned style with a necktie
wound many times round his throat. He was in
feeble health, and went about in a bath chair, being
very nervous and querulous. The usual greeting
when any of his large family arrived at his house was,
" Oh dear, I am very glad to see you ; when are you
going away ? "

Should he persevere with these Memoirs, the reader
will hear more about Ravensworth. What chiefly
impressed me on that occasion was a curious dwarf
called " Betsey," who used to glide in and out of the
nursery at all times of the day. I believe she was a
protegee of my grandmother's. There was also
a strange creature called " Dummy," who was to be
met in the passages, carrying coal, and giving vent to
odd cries, being both deaf and dumb.

I think the following extract from a letter of my
father's written in August, 1851, as it will be of
interest to loyal subjects, may find a place here :

" On Sunday I went with Mulgrave to Charles
Phipps' cottage, and he took us round all the grounds at
Osborne. While we were walking along the carriage
road near the sea we met the Prince of Wales and
Prince Alfred walking with their tutor — very nice
little fellows in red and brown kilts and green cloth
jackets, wide-awake hats, and grey worsted stockings.
They stopped and shook hands 'with us, and we had

io TROUVILLE [I.

a little talk and went on. They are good-looking lads,
and appeared strong and well made, with capital legs
and very nice manners. Later we came on the children's
gardens, which are kept in very nice order by them,
and all the tools and wheelbarrows put away neatly
and tidily."

In the summer of 1852 there was a great uprooting.
My father took a house at Trouville, in Normandy,
then rising into notice as a fashionable watering
place. As may be supposed this visit to a foreign
country made a deep impression on my mind, and
I have a very distinct picture of our life and doings
during the time we were there.

My get-up at that time was a grey jacket and kilt, a
dress not so common as it is now, which consequently
attracted the attention of the French ladies, who used
to call me " Petit Ecossais" and endeavour to make
friends.

This entente cordiale I was far from appreciating, as
we had, like most children of that time, been brought
up to hate the French, and to believe thoroughly in the
good old doctrine that one Englishman could lick three
Frenchmen. This view of our neighbours had been
emphasised by a figure of Napoleon standing on our
nursery chimney-piece, which my nurse would invoke
under the name of " Boney," when the services of
a bogey were in any way required. These opinions
were, I am sorry to say, not always kept to ourselves
at Trouville. On one occasion when the doctor, who
was attending my sister and myself for whooping
cough, asked me whether I liked the French or the
Russians best, I rudely and ignorantly answered,
" The Russians, because they helped us at Waterloo."
The worthy man hastily retreated, muttering, " Petit
sauvage"

1846-55] TROUVILLE 11

My father took us to Trouville, but had to return to
England, leaving the butler, a great character of
the name of " Noon," as our protection against the
foreigner. He fully shared my contempt for the
natives, with whom he was in frequent collision,
owing to our black retriever " Nep " being constantly
arrested by the gendarmes for infringing the regulation
obliging dogs to go about muzzled.

Trouville was a lively place, given over to amuse-
ment, tempered with bathing. The bathers issued
out of little wooden huts, and at the edge of the
water were seized by large hairy men in red flannel
shirts, who proceeded to duck them backwards under
the waves ; a process I did not at all appreciate. When
bathing was over society congregated at the Salon,
a pavilion with a large verandah in front, containing
rooms used for various amusements, such as
dancing and petits chevaux. In this verandah I once
beheld, to my great astonishment, the handsome
Mrs. Dudley Ward, afterwards Madame de Falbe,
smoking a large cigar.

I did not much approve of Trouville, but of all
places the Salon to me was the most hateful, as the
seat of a dancing class for children conducted by a
certain Monsieur and Madame Laborde. Everything
combined to make the pursuit of this liberal art a
penance of the most detested sort. I was shy, I
hated little girls, I was awkward, and had no ear for
music. For some lessons my ignorance of the
vernacular limited me to an indignant silence ; but
at last I burst forth with a sentence I had been
carefully preparing, " Madame Laborde, je n'aime pas
vous."

Not long after our return from France, Professor

12 RYDE [I.

Owen brought a stranger through the path in the
hedge, who, we were told, had just come from the
North Pole. He related to us how he had shot a bear
through the heart, which afterwards ran for two
hundred yards and swam for two hundred yards. As
may be supposed, I was greatly interested in this
visitor, and wished that all the celebrities the
Professor brought had done such splendid things,
instead of being merely naturalists or poet laureates.
I say u laureates " because about this time no less a
lion than Mr. Tennyson appeared one day at the
Professor's cottage. He made himself very agreeable
to my mother, and gave her the description of a
cataract, I think in Norway, which she described as a
wonderful specimen of word-painting.

In the summers of 1853-54 we betook ourselves to
Ryde, Isle of Wight, then a nice little town. The
pier was in existence, a good deal shorter than it
afterwards became, but there was no parade, and our
garden opened on to the beach. 1854 was the year of
the Crimean War, and men-of-war were constantly
coming and going from Spithead, just opposite our
windows, whose names and different rigs became
objects of great interest to me. On the other hand,
I was in constant terror lest a Russian ship should
appear round the " Nab," and begin to bombard the
town. One morning I thought this had actually
happened, as a ship under sail in the offing began to
open fire. However, no shells struck the house, and
after a time I was reassured by being told that it was
the training brig Sealark, which was practising her
boys in gunnery.

Our interest in nautical matters was not confined to
Her Majesty's ships, but was extended to the large

1846-55] LORD HARDWICKE 13

fleet of yachts which was cruising about the Solent.
The champion cutters were the Arrow and the
Lulworth, the former a fine vessel with the bold lines
of the older build, which sat on the water like a duck ;
the Lulworth being a long, rakish craft of more modern
cut. I do not quite know why, but we were violent
partisans of the Arrow, and suffered accordingly, as
she was almost always beaten by her rival. Among
the schooners there were none which could touch the
Alarm, a fine large vessel belonging to Mr. Weld,
who also owned the Lulworth.

When my father was at home my juvenile friends
were less sought for, as merely to be with him was
the greatest pleasure I could have. We did a good
deal of sailing in the Ryde wherries, making long
expeditions, and sometimes going out into the Channel
through the Needles. Here, late one afternoon, we saw
a sight which is still before my eyes. A large frigate
was coming in from sea with every stitch of canvas set
below and aloft, going free before the South-West
wind and churning up the water at her bows, with
the bright evening sky behind her as a background,
a splendid and stirring picture, which is, alas, to be
seen no more.

A favourite voyage was to Sidney Lodge, a charming
place on the Southampton Water belonging to Lord
Hardwicke, our uncle by marriage. He was a great
character, who had been many years in the Navy, and
in dress and manners belonged to the old " Blowhard "
school. We were rather in awe of him, but liked him
at the same time, as his somewhat alarming demeanour
concealed a kind heart. One thing he could not abide
was whistling, and woe betide the wretched wight
who in the lightness of his heart burst into a tune. I

i4 LORD HARDWICKE [I.

nearly had a fit one day when, at his house, descending
the stairs in a burst of melody, I looked over the
balusters, and saw the whole family at prayers in the
hall below, the face of my uncle being turned up from
his book with a ferocious glance in the direction of the
sound. One of his peculiarities was that he would get
hold of a word or phrase and for many months apply
it to anything and everything, not apparently in a
jocular way, but with great solemnity. Thus at one
time he could not utter three sentences without
bringing in the word " Rantoon," a kind of bicycle
propelled by the arms. At the time of the American
War everything in the same way was dubbed a
" Ticonderagua," e.g., a pretty woman would be called
a dear little " Ticonderagua."

Many stories of him floated about the family.
When one of his daughters was a celebrated beauty
in London society, a distinguished personage intimated
his intention of honouring her with his company to
tea. The young lady made her preparations for a
tete-a-tete entertainment. But somehow or other the
honour which was to be done to his house came to the
ears of the father. Accordingly, when the guest
arrived incognito, he found red cloth down on the steps
and old Hardwicke in uniform with his orders on,
bowing at the top of them, and insisting on doing the
honours throughout the whole visit.

On one occasion, being in the stalls at the theatre
during the production of a moving drama, he suddenly
declared that he was cold, and placed his gloves and
handkerchief on the top of his bald head just as the
most pathetic portion of the piece was being repre-
sented, remaining quite indifferent to the remon-
strances of his family and to the mixed laughter and

1846-55] HOME LIFE 15

indignation in the audience, which nearly ended in a
row.

During the autumn of 1854 I paid my first visit
alone, my father taking me to Bramham and leaving
me with my uncle George Fox. Mr. Fox kept the
Bramham Moor hounds, and I soon became deeply
interested in all hunting matters, having been taken
to the kennels, and listening with interest to the talk of
the huntsman and whips.

With the exception of this visit and our summer
jaunts to the Isle of Wight, we spent these years,
1853-54, at the Cottage.

Our life was a quiet one. Now and then I accom-
panied my father on my pony in some expedition. I
remember one delightful one to Hampton Court, in
which Professor Owen was our companion, and how
he described to me the ways of spiders, a propos of the
monster spiders which were said to inhabit the Palace.

Owen had more than usual interest in our eyes at
that time, as he was superintending the modelling of
the antediluvian monsters, whose ways he used to
relate to us, for the gardens of the lately-built
Crystal Palace. When they were finished a banquet
was given inside the megatherium, at which Owen
presided, sitting with other savants in the cranium,
and making an oration to the assembled guests, who
were at a long table in the stomach.

At another time we went to lunch with Chief Baron
Pollock, then of advanced age, who told my father that
he had never in his life taken any exercise except
getting up daily at five o'clock to read mathematics.

In such surroundings my life was passed till I was
eight and a half years old, when a great change took
place. I was then a fresh-coloured boy of weak

16 EARLY CHARACTERISTICS [I.

physique, but wiry, and keen in anything that interested
me. Nature and education had made me very thin-
skinned and impressionable, while an unrestrained
fancy, acting on these impressions, produced all kinds
of wrong and superficial notions of persons and things,
leading to many gaucheries and mistakes. At home I
had an exaggerated, though not entirely unfounded,
reputation for carelessness and inaccuracy, which led
to constant readings for my benefit of an odious story
called " Robert Woodward, or the Careless Boy,"
relating how Robert, after causing many disasters,
wrecked the fortunes of his family by forgetting to
post a letter.

Perhaps I may conclude this account of my child-
hood by a reference to the only great public event
with which I came into contact in this early period.
I refer to the funeral of the great Duke of Wellington.
One morning in November, 1852, I was roused from
my bed in the dark and taken by my father to
Gloucester House, Piccadilly, whence, after a long
wait on a balcony, I saw the procession. I remember
but dimly the crowds, the soldiers, and the great car ;
what is still a vivid picture is the horse pacing before
the car with the boots of the dead warrior hanging
from the saddle. However, I am not sure that getting
up by candle-light did not make a more vivid impres-
sion on my childish mind than all the pomp and
pageantry of the great spectacle — as being to my
limited experience an utter inversion of the regular
order of Nature.

CHAPTER II
1855—1859

Temple Grove— The White Lodge — The Prince of Wales — My first
play — Trouville — Ryde — Paris — The Northern Circuit — The
Wortleys — Ravensworth — Begin shooting.

IN the end of January, 1855, I went to a school at *
Temple Grove, East Sheen, a large private school of
about a hundred boys, kept by the Rev. Dr. Rowden.
Temple Grove was about a mile from my home, and
was called after Sir William Temple, to whom it was
said to have belonged.

My cousin, Edward Liddell, accompanied me, being
about a year my senior. It was the Crimean winter,
and the day we went to school was bitterly cold and
the ground covered with snow. When our parents
left us we were taken to the schoolroom, feeling very
bewildered with the noise and novelty.

The next day school life began in earnest, and I
came to know for the first time what it was to " eat my
bread in tears." The cold of the great bare house,
with its long windows and few fireplaces, was severe,
and I soon was troubled with chilblains from getting
my feet wet in the snow. But that was only a small
part of my misery. The sudden change from a home
where I was surrounded with care and affection to the
indifference and occasional rough usage of school
overwhelmed me, the more because I had never
imagined anything of the kind.

My new abode stood in extensive grounds, of which

L.L. c

i8 THE WHITE LODGE [II.

a large field and a gravelled square surrounded by
walls were dedicated to the use of the boys. The field
was only used in the summer months ; in the winter
we were confined to the dismal playground.

The teaching of Temple Grove was not bad, but the
food was coarse and the general arrangements rough.
Every night and morning we filed before the matron
— Miss Surrey — a kind, deep-bosomed old dame, who
dealt two or three ferocious strokes with a hair-brush
on to our heads as we passed under her. The good
lady, oddly enough, had been a maid at my father's
private school, so was kind to me in her way, temper-
ing the blows of her hair-brush by saying that my
forehead reminded her of my father's.

I have said before that my uncle Augustus and his
family spent the summer at the White Lodge with the
Duchess of Gloucester. As the holidays at Lee's,
where my two eldest cousins were at school, did not
finish till some six weeks after ours, the Duchess used
often to ask me to the White Lodge to spend the
Sunday. I vividly remember the" delights of these
visits. They began by Coomber, her head coach-
man, driving down to fetch me in the dog-cart.
Coomber was a man of fine presence and enormous
size and weight, in every way fitted for a royal coach-
man. There was a legend amongst us that once, when
he was driving in the aforesaid dog-cart, one of the
wheels came off; but that Coomber, by dexterously
shifting his great bulk to the extreme edge of the
opposite seat, contrived to bring the vehicle home in
safety on one wheel.

During one of these visits our late King came down
with his tutor, Mr. Gibbs, to lunch with his great-aunt.
We were not admitted to the meal on that occasion,

1855-59] HOLIDAY IN PARIS 19

but I remember the intense interest with which we
scrutinised the hat of our future sovereign, a " topper,"
which had been left in the hall. After luncheon H.R.H.
came out to the cricket ground, and my uncle bowled
him some balls, while we fielded. I think we were all
of opinion that the veteran cricketer was more anxious
for royal runs than a royal wicket.

It was in the autumn of this year that I saw my first
play, the Midsummer Night's Dream. I believe Mr.
and Mrs. C. Kean were acting ; but what remains
specially in my mind is " Puck," who was played by a
very pretty, yellow-haired child, called Ellen Terry,
who acted her part with great vivacity and grace.
Shortly afterwards I saw Henry VIII. , but it was too
high for me, and I retired to sleep at the back of
the box, having first given directions that I should
be called to see the visions of angels appearing to
Queen Katherine, which was done when the angels
arrived.

At the beginning of the following Christmas holidays
my father took me to Paris. I stayed in the house of

Dr. B , where my mother was living. It was

situated in the Boulevard de 1'Hopital, not far from the
great hospital of the Salpetriere. Behind the house
was a small garden outside of which I was forbidden
to go. But I speedily became friends with Auguste,
the coachman, a retired soldier, who would at times let
me out through the coach-house for a run in the streets.
In spite of the entente cordiale supposed to be
fostered by the Crimean War, I still had an unfounded
contempt for the great French nation. This resulted
in my jeering at an official in the Jardin des Plantes,
which was one of my favourite haunts, and my being
brought home by a gendarme, which put a stop to

C 2

20 HOLIDAY IN PARIS [II.

my liberty, and cost my friend the coachman a
wigging.

One of the consequences of my friendship with the
coachman was an interest in things military. It was
the custom of my mother to drive every afternoon

with Madame or Miss B , and I always occupied

the box of the coupe. Under the tuition of the veteran
I soon got to know the uniforms of all the regiments
in the French army, a knowledge which I stereotyped
by buying large quantities of tin soldiers, with which
I enacted the scenes of the Crimean War. On one of
these drives Auguste, as we were passing under the
gardens of the Tuileries, pointed out the Emperor.
He had on a long great-coat with a velvet collar, and
was walking up and down a terrace with a single
companion.

Our host, Dr. B , was married, and his family

lived with him. The eldest son had two little
girls, whom I held in great contempt. The youngest
son was still a student, and when I was in the house
had to go and draw his number at the Conscription.
I remember the state of suspense the family were
in, and how he came bounding up the stairs, shout-
ing out the number he had drawn at the top of his
voice.

In February, just before I left France, a large
detachment of troops from the Crimea made a
triumphal entry into Paris, which I beheld from the
window of a friend's house. I was much impressed
by the martial spectacle and the war-worn standards
and uniforms ; but more than all by the sight of a
solitary English officer, riding with the procession in
a red coat and cocked hat.

In the end of July my father took me with him on

1855-59] THE NORTHERN CIRCUIT 21

the northern circuit to Liverpool, where I made my
first acquaintance with the interior of a court of
justice. The weather was very hot, and there was
a good deal of cholera about, which filled me with
terror, as I had lately read " Old St. Paul's," and had
brooded over the vivid descriptions of the plague con-
tained in that book. These vague fears were given
shape by my father being taken ill, and I well recollect
the anxiety with which I used to steal into his
room on tip-toe and watch him lying in his bed. His
friends, knowing what I must be undergoing, showed
me great kindness, and took me to dine at the Bar
Mess, where at dessert we used to indulge in what
I thought a most attractive pastime, viz., seeing who
could spin a knife longest on the polished surface of
the mahogany table.

At the end of 1858 Dr. Rowden gave up Temple
Grove, and I left the school.

* I was then twelve and a half years old, and was
much like other boys, except that perhaps my liking
for sounding rhythm began rather earlier than with
most. Before I had seen any' Homer I used to
admire and constantly repeat to myself the words,
" OfoeLKfX 'AxiAXe'u/' which a friend had imparted
to me. The only English poets I can remember
reading were the inevitable Longfellow (much praised
by my mother), Milton, and "The Lay of the Last
Minstrel." As for the fine arts, I attended the
drawing class at Temple Grove, which was instructed
by an old gentleman called Wichelo, who had filled
the same post at my father's private school, and an
assistant known to the boys as " Bones." In our last
year at Ryde, Tom Robins, the marine painter, had
stayed with us to give my father some lessons, and I

22 THE STUART-WORTLEYS [II.

had endeavoured to follow his methods in water
colour, without, as may be supposed, much success,
except getting a notion of the rigging of ships, and
how to put them on the water.

It was some time in this year, 1858, that a great
addition was made to Sheen society by the advent of
the Stuart- Wortleys, who took a house opposite our
gate. Mr. Wortley had been Recorder of London,
but had fallen into bad health, which gradually
affected his powers of walking, and finally kept him
to his chair. He was a fine-looking, intelligent man,
and decidedly kind to children. The two families
became very intimate, as they have been ever since.
Many persons well-known in politics and society used
to come down to see Mr. Wortley. I was at that time
of life not much interested in celebrities, unless they
had killed Polar bears, like Professor Owen's friend,
but I remember dear old Archbishop Longley and
Mr. and Mrs. Gladstone.

On leaving my private school I was fitted with my
first shooting jacket, a garment of mustard-coloured
tweed, which filled me with great pride.

Being thus provided with the uniform, I went down
with my father to Ravensworth to take the field, and
from the joys of that visit dates the affection I have
always had for that ancestral dwelling and the
surrounding woods and fields.

My uncle Henry, who then reigned at the family
place, welcomed me very kindly, and I was placed in
the hands of Wallace, the head-keeper, for instruction
in the art of gunnery.

Wallace was a remarkable character. He was a
man of great physical and mental vigour, though of
imperfect education. In appearance he was of that

1855-59] HENRY WALLACE 23

North country type to which I have said my father
belonged, solid and square-shouldered, with clean
limbs and small hands and feet He had been some
years head-keeper at Ravensworth, and was devoted
to all the family. Surrounded as it was by pit villages
containing a population devoted to all forms of sport,
Ravensworth was a most difficult territory to
preserve, and when Wallace first took office he
had had a bad time. The poachers had obtained a
complete ascendency, and used to walk in line across
the park in front of the windows, as if the place
belonged to them. This state of things Wallace was
not the man to allow, and frequent conflicts took place
between his men and the natives, in one of which he
was dangerously shot in the shoulder. Convinced
that very strong measures were necessary, on the
first day he was allowed out of the house after six
weeks in bed, he fired, at a distance of some sixty or
seventy yards, at the first pitman he saw who showed
signs of hostility. This showed his enemies that
they had a man to deal with who would not stand
nonsense, and he gradually put an almost entire stop
to the poaching on the estate. His memory was
amazing, and he seemed to carry in his head the
circumstances attending the death of almost every
head of game that had been killed in his time. In
addition to this, his comments on men and things,
expressed in strong Northern Doric, were shrewd and
incisive, and he had a stock of phrases and sayings,
partly his own and partly remembered, which were
quite admirable.

Under the care of this hero I spent some delightful
days. After mastering the process of loading, a
complicated business in those times, I passed to the

24 BEGIN SHOOTING [II.

step of firing copper-caps at a lighted candle, and
thence to potting blackbirds on the pig-tub.

These ingenious methods of education had a certain
amount of success, as, before the end of my visit, I
was allowed to prowl round outlying fields or
spinneys, and had the bliss of bagging various
partridges and rabbits before the time came for me
to go South again.

CHAPTER III
1859 — 1864

Eton — First friends — Pastimes— Daily life— Socking— " Passing '
— Our lessons — Catapult — Harrow match — Warre — Poetical
attempts — Day — Dance at Frogmore — "Lords" again — The
Rifle Corps — Ballistics — Tortoise mania — Staplehurst — Captain
Legard — William Johnson — Marriage of the Prince of Wales —
Nautical cricket — Confirmation — "Judy" — Leaving books.

IN January, 1859, my father took me to Eton, and I
was installed in what appeared to me a palatial apart-
ment at the end of the top passage in Balston's house.
I was introduced to my tutor, a handsome man of
middle age, dressed in a swallow-tailed coat and
pumps. He was a lovable person, who ruled us in the
good old gentlemanlike style, seldom coming into the
boy's part of the house, and leaving a good deal to our
sense of honour. But we respected him, and his
" Boy, boy," accompanied by a twitch of the ear, was
as effective as the more peremptory commands of
other masters.

Towards evening my father left me, and I had tea
in my new abode. Seldom have I felt greater satis-
faction with myself and my surroundings. I admired
everything — the kettle, candlestick, and snuffers,
stamped with the first and last letters of my name, the
tea-canister, the solid crockery, the knives and spoons,

marked in the same way with a double L L.

After tea I canted one of the kitchen chairs against
the wall — arm-chairs were not in those days allowed —
and read by the light of the dip, feeling that I was at

26 A NEW BOY [III.

last an independent gentleman. I was occasionally
surprised by one or two heads being poked in at the
door and being suddenly withdrawn, but nothing
happened till I went to bed.

The second day was not so rosy, as I was
subjected to the constant and often contemptuous
interrogation of " What's your name, and where do
you board ? " — and sometimes to the disquieting
question of " Do you take a licking ? "

The next day I was sent, till our places were settled,
to the form of the Rev. H. Snow, who took the Lower
Fourth in one of the small whitewashed dens in the
old school buildings, plentifully decorated with cob-
webs, and dimly lit by dusty, diamond-paned windows.
I was, however, not for long under the reverend
gentleman, as after some days I was drafted into the
Upper Fourth.

Meanwhile I had been assigned as fag to one Le
Marchant, a lame boy in Middle Division. He messed
with the two Eatons, the younger of whom became
Lord Cheylesmore. My chief friends at first were
W. Hoare, a younger son of the banker, Arthur Walter,
late chief proprietor of The Times, Heathcote and
Hamond, sons of Essex and Norfolk squires, and
Edmund Boyle, with whom I messed ; but I soon
made lots of acquaintances and was very happy ;
though there were a few boys whom I disliked who
gave me occasional rough usage.

After leaving Snow's division I was up to Thackeray
in the old Upper School. Though undoubtedly one
of the finest scholars at Eton, Thackeray was very
short-sighted, which made it difficult to keep order in
a large class.

In the spring half, failing fives, the great pastime was

1859-64] ETON AMUSEMENTS 27

to go out jumping. This sport was followed in
the flat fields to the west of the college, which were
traversed by the sluggish stream of Chalvey. It
generally began with legitimate jumps, but with the
small boys usually went on to attempting the impos-
sible, and ended in wading about in mud and water to
the detriment of their clothing and the fury of the
boys' maids.

1 also continued my love of missiles and practised a
good deal on persons in the street with pea-shooters,
and on objects indoors with the puff-and-dart A
modern pea-shooter was just then coming into vogue,
a long brass tube with scarlet ends, replacing the old
tin weapon, much as the Armstrong gun was replacing
the old carronade. These were procured at a shop
near Windsor Bridge, and the only way of conveying
them home was by putting them down the leg of the
trousers and holding them up with a hand in the
pocket This produced a stiffness of gait liable to be
remarked by the eye of an observant master, or of an
inquisitive companion, which made the importation of
one of these machines an anxious and risky business
for a small boy. When safe at home they were kept
for concealment in the dirty clothes drawer.

For the decoration of my room I had, following the
usual taste, bought a small hunting picture, which
hung forlornly on a large space of wall. Some boy
had also presented me with an old print of the Duke
of Wellington riding under the Horse Guards, which
was suspended over the chimney-piece. But as this
was without glass it had irresistible attractions as a
target for puff-dart, and the face of the hero was soon
as full of pin-pricks as a maid's forefinger, which
did not add to the decorative qualities of the work.

28 DAILY LIFE [III.

I will now try to give some idea of the life at Eton
when I joined the school.

Our day began at 7, when we were called, and the
fire (if winter) was lit by the boys' maid. Of these
there were two, and an awful life they led, though I
believe they were devoted to the boys on the whole.
Mine, Mrs. Gibson, called "Sib," was a short, round
little female with bright black eyes, the exact counter-
part of Peggotty in appearance and character. There
was a lofty butler, and a red-headed footman called
Dick, who was subjected to all kinds of chaff, which
he returned after his powers.

Early school was at 7.30. On most days this was a
saying lesson, and so long as you were in time for
your turn to say, punctuality was not required.
Great-coats were never worn, so we went into school
on the coldest mornings in the same clothes which we
wore in the house.

About 8.45 the fags began to prepare their master's
breakfast, making toast, warming rolls, or boiling eggs.
Cooking was forbidden, but the more energetic boys
used, nevertheless, to fry sausages, and make
11 buttered eggs."

The rest of the day was divided into sections of
work and play, with occasional chapels on holidays.
Tea was about 6 o'clock, and the evening was spent
in various ways, the usual indoor games being football
in the passage or knuckle-bones, occasionally cards or
chess. At 9 came supper, and bed at 10.30.

The result of the hard fare at Temple Grove and
there being now no control over the purse-strings,
was a tendency to the pernicious habit of " socking,"
i.e., eating trash between meals. As I grew older and
wiser this habit wore off, and was confined to an

1859-64] PASSING 29

occasional cup of coffee before early school, a slice of
"luncheon cake" after luncheon, or the ambrosial
"strawberry mess" when in season. While on the
subject of " socking " I may relate the following story.
One very cold, foggy morning I went to " Barnes,' "
about 7.15, to get a cup of coffee before early school.
While discussing this comfortable beverage, a small,
dishevelled boy came in and ordered meringues and
cream and two pennyworth of lemonade, which he
sucked through a straw in the intervals of the
meringues, and thus fortified, plunged again into the
fog.

My second term at Eton was the summer term,
and after a short time I went in for the ordeal of
"passing," i.e., satisfying the judge, who was one of
the masters, that the boy could swim well enough
to be allowed to boat. It was a trying performance,
as there were crowds of mocking spectators, and it
was necessary to stand shivering in a punt in puris
naturalibus till one's turn came. I had never taken
a header in my life, and when I did so followed
" Hobbes ' " example, " Prone as a quadruped, prone
with hands and feet extended," knocking all the
breath out of my body. As I came up panting, I
heard the roar of jeers which welcomed my " gutter."
These things so disconcerted me that, though I could
swim fairly well, I failed to pass. However I got
through without difficulty at the next attempt, and
was allowed to have a "lock-up" at Tolliday's with
a friend.

When I got back to Eton after the Easter holidays,
I found that several new boys had come to my tutor's
with whom I became great friends : Melgund, now
Lord Minto, and his brother Hugh ; G. D. Whatman,

3o OUR LESSONS [III.

Laing, now Wolryche-Whitmore, and Foljambe, the
late Lord Liverpool.

In school I was now in the Lower Remove, and up
to C. C. James, called by the boys " Stiggins." He
was a capable master, who kept his form in order, and
did not tolerate any kind of slackness. In the Remove
I first made the acquaintance of Homer from the extracts
in " Poetae Graeci," a capital book of selections, com-
piled, I believe, by the celebrated scholar Cookesley.
The poet Swinburne once praised this anthology to
me highly, and said that it had played a large part in
fostering a love of poetry in his mind when quite
a boy.

Perhaps this is a good place to say something about
our lessons. The regular teaching was classics,
mathematics, ancient history, and geography, other
subjects being extras.

" Cribs " were a good deal used in preparation, but
not universally. I think the average boy, if not
pressed for time, would try to make out the lesson for
himself.

On Monday the subject for Latin verses would be
set, which in those days were generally on original
subjects, not translations. I rather liked verses, but
could hardly ever manage to finish a copy without
one or more false quantities. On Saturdays we had
to do a piece of Latin prose, also on an original subject,
called " Theme." I was bad at prose and hated it.
My style may be described by a note made by Warre
on one of my " themes " soon after he came, " Might
have been written by a mediaeval Bishop." A common
form of beginning was " Negari non potest quin," and
we used superlatives freely and all the longest words
we could get in order to cover the requisite amount of

1859-64] THE CATAPULT 31

paper. The following is a fair specimen : " Negari
non potest quin omnium Imperatorum Romanorum
Scipio Africanus longe fuit peritissimus et praestan-
tissimus."

Every week a map had to be shown up, which was
coloured and filled in on a skeleton form corresponding
to the outline of the Eton Atlas. Boys who had a
turn for drawing used to decorate the top and sides of
the map with pictures and illuminations. On the
occasion when the whole of England was thrilled by
the great fight between Tom Sayers and the Benicia
Boy, I drew a picture of the conflict on the top of my
map. The decoration was not well received by James,
who seriously considered having me " swished " for
this piece of pictorial levity.

It was this autumn that I first recollect seeing a
" catapult," the introduction of which effected as great
a revolution in the life of the small boy of my time as
the introduction of gunpowder did in history.

I well remember our first experience of the powers
of the catapult. Several of us were gathered in the
room of a boy called Fletcher engaged in a pea-
shooting conflict with the boys of Woolley's, the
house opposite. We had two of the long brass pea-
shooters described before, and were making it hot for
them, when suddenly we heard something strike the
wall behind us with violence, and saw to our astonish-
ment that there was a hole in the glass of the window.
Not understanding what form of pea-shooter could
produce such terrific results, we all took cover at
once, and on the shot being repeated picked up a slug
from the floor. After this we felt that we were exposed
to unknown forces, and blowing out the lights fled from
the room. It transpired afterwards that "Carrotty

32 THE CATAPULT [III.

Butler," the owner of the room we were attacking,
a rough and ruthless customer, had rigged up a
powerful standing catapult, by screwing the handle
to his table, which he had brought to bear on his
opponents with merciless vigour.

Though the gaiety of the small boy was increased
in one way by this invention, it operated in other ways
to his discomfort, as during the first rage for the new
weapon boys of a bullying tendency often let drive at
the passer-by with shot, which stung most consumedly.

In my first enthusiasm for the catapult I narrowly
escaped a swishing.

There was an ancient carriage drawn by a pale
mustard-coloured horse and driven by an irascible old
coachman, belonging to the mother-in-law of one of
the mathematical masters, which was well known to
the youth of the place. One day this vehicle was
drawn up at a door just opposite to my tutor's, while
the old lady was making a call. Some friends of mine
began pea-shooting the coachman, and I drew on the
old mare with swan shot, which so excited her usually
phlegmatic nature that she made various efforts to run
away. The coachman was naturally in a great rage
and complained to his mistress when she came out,
who called on my tutor and told him what had hap-
pened. We could not see this move, and were still
amusing ourselves in the same room when I heard
hasty footsteps approaching, and having a notion what
was up, fled to my own den. The footsteps were
those of the butler, who had been sent up to take the
names of the boys in the room whence the outrage
had been committed. My two friends, though really
less guilty, as they had only been pea-shooting, were
"complained of" and swished.

1859-64] HARROW MATCH 33

Things went quietly through the winter, in the
course of which I joined the Rifle Corps, which had
lately been started under the Volunteer enthusiasm
then prevailing. I did not much like the drill, and it
was especially trying in summer, as we had to turn
out before breakfast after three-quarters of an hour of
Greek Testament on Monday morning, and drill for
an hour, often in hot sun and wet grass, on empty
stomachs, the early tea having not yet been invented.

This year I went up to Lord's for the first time to
the Eton and Harrow match. Before this period cricket
had been for some time at rather a low ebb at Eton.
I think in my first year that two at least of our eleven
were also in the Boats, and played in a decidedly aquatic
style. One of these was Walter Hoare, Captain of my
tutor's, a very hard, tough boy. Lang, one of the
fastest bowlers of the day, was bowling for Harrow.
The pace was such that he had two long-stops. Hoare,
to show that he had no fears, went in without pads or
gloves. This was " magnifique, " but it was not cricket,
and the result was not commensurate with the heroism.
However, it was not long before there was a marked
renaissance in Eton cricket, and in the year of which
I am now writing our eleven had two first-class players,
C. G. Lyttelton and R. A. H. Mitchell.

The match had not become the fashionable picnic
which it now is, and we all sat on the grass to watch
the game. Chaff and howls of " bowled " and " played "
were indulged in to such an exaggerated extent that
they interfered with the cricket and had to be put down
by the authorities.

The enthusiasm at Eton after the 1860 match was
tremendous, as it was the first time we had made a
fight for some years. Daniel, the Harrow Captain, had

L.L. D

34 CHANGES [III.

whiskers, and for some reason or other wore a straw
hat instead of a cap. These facts, with a natural readi-
ness to think ill of one's enemies, fostered a myth,
which was firmly held by the lower boys at Eton, vis.,
that the Harrovians had introduced into their eleven
a professional in disguise. I remember solemnly
relating this tale to Hawtrey, the old Provost, when
breakfasting with him, and his expressing much
astonishment, but whether under the influence of
politeness or credulity I cannot say.

Meanwhile Balston had been made a fellow and
gave up his house at the end of the summer half. At
the same time James sent me up for good, and I
afterwards joined the family at Cowes, where my
father had taken a house, Ryde having become too
much of a " watering place. " From this time we came
to Cowes every summer until 1868. It was then a
pretty little town, very full and fashionable for the
Regatta week in August, but quite peaceful for the
rest of the year.

On my return after the summer holidays I found
that " in the convent there was a change, " or rather
several changes, and these of great importance to
myself and my friends. Balston's house was taken
on by G. Dupuis, a lower school master, who held it
as a "dame," i.e., was supposed to look after us, but
not to teach us. Our new tutor was Edmond Warre,
who, while his own house was building, lodged, and
had a pokey pupil-room at Stevens', a tumbledown
old house in Westons' Yard.

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than
Balston and Warre, types of the old and new of that
period. Balston was a tall and slender man of stately
carriage, who never appeared except in a swallow-tailed

1859-64] WARRE 35

coat and pumps. Warre was a fine specimen of an
Oxford rowing man, tall and broad-shouldered, who
might frequently be seen in a sweater and flannels.
Balston was not a lazy man, but he ruled in an easy,
paternal fashion, giving an occasional " jaw " as re-
quired, but as long as our work was up to the mark,
he did not feel called upon to stir up our moral side,
except in case of special delinquencies. He rarely
appeared in the boys' part of the house ; indeed, I don't
think I ever saw him in my room. Warre, on the
other hand, was brimful of energy, he was profuse in
his exhortations on all topics, just as he was not content
with the routine-work, but turned on new kinds of
" private business, " and gave prizes for essays and
verses. When he had a house, he hardly ever missed
coming round after we had gone to bed, and occasion-
ally appeared at odd times, and had a talk more in the
style of an elder brother than a tutor.

It may be imagined that all this was rather trying to
the younger boys who had no thought for the morrow,
and were as jealous of new tasks as a democracy is of
new taxes. During the first year of this regime, while
still in Dupuis' house, the new shoe did not pinch so
tightly, and our admiration for Warre's athleticism
made us put up with what we considered to be his
new-fangled fads. When, however, he became our
house-master, we began to feel the bit and spur, and he
was decidedly unpopular. As we grew more sensible
this feeling gradually disappeared, and we came to
like and admire him, though not with quite the same
kind of affection we had for our old tutor. There can
be no doubt that it was a piece of good fortune coming
under Warre's influence at the time we did. His
earnestness was a most opportune corrective to our

D 2

36 UP TO BIRCH [III.

careless, happy-go-lucky view of life, and personally
I feel a deep debt for the reverence for truth and hard
work which he contrived to instil into a desultory
nature. Besides his moral teaching, he improved our
taste by directing our attention to English literature,
which was not part of the old curriculum. In pur-
suance of this policy he presented the " British Poets "
to the scanty library in the pupil-room, which gave us
an opportunity of making the acquaintance of our
principal singers, not then enjoyed by many houses.

In school I found myself one of Birch's form, a
master who was supposed to be very particular, and
who had the power of awakening a certain degree of
awe. He was rather an exquisite in his dress, and
had curly brown whiskers, the ends of which he used
to chew.

An event occurred this autumn. One day a stray
robin got into Birch's room, and sat perched on the
window-sill in great terror during the lesson. Birch
ordered the division to celebrate the event in English
verse. To my great surprise mine was the best, and I
was awarded two " exemptions," an unusual meed from
Birch, who was, I have said, very chary of praise.
The only other copy which was read to the division
was of a humorous character, and written by " Carrotty
Butler, " the boy I have mentioned before as owning
the standing catapult. I am afraid I can only recall one
line of my rival's performance, which is —

" Sat a robin afraid of the cat."

My fame as a poet getting abroad, Warre began to set
me pieces from the classics for translation, in which I
took great interest, and which certainly helped to
develop my liking for

1859-64] POETICAL ATTEMPTS 37

My " sent up " copy of verses on " David and
Goliath " was read in Upper School this half before
the division. I have still got them, and they strike me
as feeble, though it is difficult at sixty to criticise the
performances of fourteen. If there is anything to note,
it is the number of similes, which, though perhaps in
itself a defect, shows a poetical disposition in a boy,
as it does in barbaric races.

Having mentioned the subject of David and
Goliath, I cannot refrain from giving the reader
the following extract from a copy of " longs "
on the same subject, written about that time in
holiday-task by a large boy with sandy whiskers and
moustache, who was notoriously unscholastic : —

"Turn dixit David, volo pugnare Goliath.
Respondit Saulus, non potes vincere monstrum.
Sed dixit David, ego possum vincere monstrum."

In their canine simplicity these lines always struck
me as quite Homeric.

Not long after this my tutor gave junior prizes for
the best English epigram on the " Prince of Wales'
visit to America," and I got the prize, and will quote
some lines from my copy : —

" He sees the lions of the place, the falls,
He visits, lays foundations, goes to balls,
Dances with blundering damsels in quadrilles,
Makes shooting parties to the neighbouring hills.
Ladies admire the beauty of his nose,
Gentlemen take patterns from his clothes."

In February of 1861 I was moved up into Day's
division. Day was a clever but rather eccentric little
man, who took delight in administering the stimulus
of his wit to certain boys whom he thought were not
pulling up to the traces. One of his chief butts was

38 DAY [III.

Maxwell (now " Sir Herbert," the well-known author).
Day had accidentally found a " Poetae Graeci" belonging
to Maxwell, in which was written Parvus Herbertus
Eustatius Maxwellius Puer. With this phrase he
was incessantly tormenting its unhappy author,
" Parvus Herbertus, etc., construe." "Maxwellius Puer,
write out and translate the lesson."

This spring a great event happened. I was asked
to a child's party at Frogmore, given by the Duchess
of Kent. It was decreed that I must have new
clothes, and Denman made an evening suit in twenty-
four hours, an occurrence that vividly impressed me
with the importance of the occasion. My cousin
Edward and I went together. The first thing that
happened was that the button came off my collar,
and one of the ends stuck up like a gill. However,
some lady took me out, and I was stitched up by the
maids — a process which made me feel very small.
Directly after I got back to the ball-room the Queen,
the Prince Consort, and some of the Royal children
arrived. We were presented to Her Majesty, and
being unaccustomed to Court etiquette, I put out my
hand, but withdrew it hastily on seeing that Her
Majesty took no notice of it, and that there were
deprecating looks from the bystanders. The evening
began with a sort of country dance invented by the
Prince Consort, which was meant to represent (we
were told) the process of weaving, the dancers being
the shuttles. The Queen and the Prince began, Her
Majesty going down the men's side and taking them
each in turn in the usual country dance fashion, and
then through an opening arranged by two persons
holding their right hands together above their heads,
and clasping their left hands some two or three feet

1859-64] DANCE AT FROGMORE 39

from the floor. The lower barrier was lowered for
the ladies, but the boys had to jump through the
opening. Prince Arthur, who was in a kilt, in
attempting this, slipped up and came down with a
bang in a sitting posture, which produced loud
wailings, and he was carried off by the Prince. In
coming down the line the Queen took me twice
running, a position which caused me great embarrass-
ment, as I did not dare speak, but I was sharp enough
to see that it would spoil the figure. Fortunately,
after we had gone once up and down, the Prince
Consort detected the mistake, and coming over hastily
to our side, and looking, I thought, rather angry with
me, took my august partner from my arms. What
happened during the rest of the evening I do not
remember, except that we had a good supper before
we were dismissed, to my great happiness.

I think it was in this half that serious illness was
for the first time brought home to me. Jersey, who
was in our house, had inflammation of the lungs, arid
his life was at one time despaired of. I remember the
awe with which I saw his mother coming up the
stairs, and with which I used to listen to his heavy
breathing as I walked on tiptoe past his door.

I got leave this year for the Harrow match, in
which Eton made a good fight. The following extract
from a letter to my father relates to the second day of
the match, the favourable position of Eton causing
immense enthusiasm among the spectators : —

" I went to the match early. The fourth wicket
fell for 92. Then Hoare, a chap at my tutor's, went in
and with Smith he ran up the score to 191. Every
change of bowling was tried in vain before they could
get him out. The great chaff was, 'What's your
analysis ? ' A master told me I was ' too vehement '

40 REVIEW AT WINDSOR [III.

for holloaing ' Mind your toes ' when the sneaks were
on. All out for 229. When Harrow went in the
excitement was immense — one wicket for 13, two
for 23. But the rain came on and made the bowling
looser. Then they shut up. I got back to Eton at
eleven, very tired."

After the summer holidays of this year we left
Dupuis and went to Warre's new house, next to John
Hawtrey's. I had a nice room, looking out on to the
kitchen garden.

In the following October the Volunteers were
reviewed by the Queen and Prince Consort in the
grounds at Windsor; which was, I believe, the last
time the Prince appeared in public. He was then
unwell, had on a large comforter and looked pale.
A dinner was given afterwards in the Orangery, Her
Majesty and the Prince walking up and down between
the tables.

Though now past fifteen, I had not abandoned my
taste for the weapons of earlier days, and this winter
Walter and I devoted a good deal of our spare time
to the construction and use of various projectiles.
We began badly. Walter's window commanded the
lane, and one night we subjected a passenger to a
severe fire of peas, till on his passing under the lamp
at my tutor's door we saw that he was no less a
person than our old tutor Balston. Like a brick as he
was, he never complained. The next victim was a
policeman, who did not show the same self-control.
Warre made a search, I forget on what suspicion, in
my room, and extracted my " long eighteen " from the
dirty clothes drawer, and never returned it to its
owner.

Our next craze was "watch-spring guns," made
with a clock spring, and the barrel of a magnum

1859-64] BALLISTICS 41

bonum. They fired only a single shot corn, and had
little force, but were very silent, and therefore adapted
for practice in school and pupil-room. We took
considerable trouble in making these weapons,
cutting the stock from oak, as nearly like that of a
real gun as possible. All these pieces, however,
paled before a Swiss cross-bow which a friend of
mine, who had been at a tutor's in Switzerland, gave
me in the Christmas holidays of this year. It had a
short but very strong steel bow, and a butt like a
horse-pistol, with a regular trigger. It had no bow-
string, so we had to visit our friend Rogerson, an
ironmonger up town, and endeavour to describe to
him what we wanted. The bow was too powerful for
an ordinary string, and a specially constructed one
was necessary, which I think was made of catgut.
It took several attempts before Mr. Rogerson pro-
duced a satisfactory result When this was done, we
had some difficulty in fastening the bow in the end
of the stock with sufficient tightness to stand the
pressure of stringing, and afterwards still greater
difficulty in bending the short thick steel bow so as to
string it. Altogether it was six weeks or two months
before the engine was ready to take the field. Then
came the question of the projectile, for we had no
idea what form of bolt ought to be used. At last I
devised a missile in the shape of a large brass-headed
nail, the point of which was run into a piece of cork
cut to fit the groove of the weapon, in which it was
laid like an arrow. So at last behold us, Walter,
myself, and one or two chosen friends, gathered one
dark night at an open window opposite our quarry, a
gas lamp on the other side of the street. After one or
two shots to find the range, our success was complete,

42 THE TORTOISE MANIA [III.

and we sent a nail right through the glass of the lamp,
and were rewarded for all the weary work and
waiting. The following night my tutor kept the
house after prayers and harangued us on the folly of
thus wantonly damaging public property. Walter and
I listened demurely and with some apprehension, but
nothing came of it, and we soon got tired of our
cumbrous weapon and the brass-headed ammunition.

On February 22nd, 1862, I received my one and only
swishing, being the last boy on whom Dr. Goodford
officiated. The offence was showing up an old punish-
ment to a mathematical master. It stung more than I
expected, but I managed to keep silence.

The great tortoise mania prevailed in the summer
half of this year. An itinerant vendor appeared in
College with a large stock of these reptiles. I became
the owner of two or three of the "insects," which I
kept in a foot tin. In a week or two there was a
colony of tortoises in every house. They were very
locomotive animals, and when we were in school it was
difficult to confine them, and tortoises might be seen
dropping from the windows of the various houses, or
scuttling along the footpaths. To check this nomadic
tendency a hole was bored in the back of the shell,
and the tortoise was tethered by a piece of string.
Tortoise races became fashionable, and there was a
great tortoise Derby, for which the swiftest animals
from the various houses were entered. At last one of
the tortoises at my tutor's, while investigating Warre's
portion of the house, was trodden upon by Mrs.
Warre, who nearly fell downstairs and was much
frightened. An interdict was therefore issued by my
tutor against the race, and all specimens upon which
he could lay his hand were confiscated. I contrived to

1859-^4] STAPLEHURST 43

save my contingent by letting them down, by means
of strings attached to the shell as above mentioned,
into the cabbage garden under my windows, where
they spent the day, and were hauled up at night for
their diet of worms, until I got tired of the trouble
and anxiety which this process entailed and got rid of
them.

The tortoise mania was not without effect on my
newly-found poetical faculty, as I wrote an elegy on a
favourite tortoise which belonged to March. It was a
parody on " The Death of Sir John Moore " and was
received with considerable favour. I quote a stanza :

" We buried him darkly at half-past eight,
The sods with a cricket stump turning,
And we left him with speed, for we feared to be late,
As the gas lamps already were burning."

This summer I went to stay with my friend, Willie
Hoare, at Staplehurst, where he lived with a large
allowance of brothers and sisters. Willie's father was
generally travelling about the country with a view of
resuscitating " Convocation," which was his pet hobby.
However, one night during my stay he appeared at
dinner. Charles, the next brother to Willie, had left
Eton that half, and old Mr. Hoare suddenly in the
middle of the meal requested him to " state the fifth
proposition of Euclid algebraically." This terrible test
was met with profound silence ; I doubt if any one
in Eton had ever conceived such a possibility. It
certainly appeared to our minds to be contrary to the
laws of nature that anything in Euclid could be solved
out of Algebra, which was another book. Poor Charles
grew very red and was sent to his room by his stern
parent, where he remained all the following day, con-
soled by half-facetious sympathy through the key-hole,

44 CAPTAIN LEGARD [III.

until Mr. Hoare once more dashed off in pursuit
of Convocation, when the prisoner was released.

The family again spent the summer holidays at
Cowes. Captain Legard, an old friend, had lately
bought The Grove, a pretty house, standing in large
grounds. He had two sons about my age. The
Captain was a man of note among ordinary mortals.
He was something of the cut of a modern Ulysses.
He had a powerful frame with a slight stoop in the
shoulders, long, silvery hair curled at the ends, which
looked as if it had streamed in many a tempest, a
weather-beaten face with marked features, and a
rolling walk which suggested the deck of a ship
at sea.

His experiences had been varied. After many years
in the Navy, and after having seen the manners
and cities of many men, he became agent to Lord
Middleton, and had for some time managed a large
agricultural property in Nottinghamshire. He was
an able man, could turn his hand to most things, and
was full of theories concerning the speed and sailing
of ships, discoursing about the " centre of effort " and
the " centre of resistance " in a way which commanded
our admiration. These views he determined to embody
in a yacht, built on the lines of the North American
pilot schooners, whose qualities he had learnt to admire
when serving on the North American Station.

The result was a 45-ton schooner called the
Kohinoor, in which we had many a pleasant trip.
She differed from the English craft of the same rig in
her foresail being her principal sail, the foremast being
stepped further aft than in our schooners, and at the
greatest breadth of beam. She had fine, bold lines,
and turned out a fast and handy boat.

1859-64] WILLIAM JOHNSON 45

After the summer holidays this year I was up to
Johnson, probably the ablest and certainly the oddest
of the Eton masters. He was very short-sighted, and
his division was rather a pandemonium. It was a
traditional occupation, when up to him, to cut through
the leg of the form in front of you, an occupation
which lasted for several schools, and ended by the
form and its sitters coming down with a run. I carried
out this practice, and conveyed the fragment of the
form-leg to my tutor's, where I carved it into a man,
who was much admired.

After a week or two Johnson began to take some
notice of me and to talk over my compositions. I may
say that in a short time he kindled an interest in
scholarship and poetry which I had never had.
Before I was up to him, though fairly industrious, I
had never taken thought on what we were trying to
do when we translated or composed, but just went
straight ahead, substituting an English word for a
Latin or a Greek one, or a Latin or Greek word for an
English one, as the case might be. Johnson first gave
me an inkling that this was not enough, that in trans-
lation one should write English, and in composition
write Latin or Greek, not merely alter the words of
one language into another. The result of this was
that during the few short weeks I was under him I
improved considerably in these exercises and began to
take great interest in my verses. The last copy I did
for him was founded on the chapter of " Villette "
where Lucy Snowe describes the south-west storm
which raged when Monsieur Paul had to cross the
Atlantic. This passage impressed me and led to an
admiration for Charlotte Bronte's writings which I
still possess. After about a month Johnson fell ill,

46 FAGS [III.

and to my great sorrow left the school for some time.
I have never seen him since. He changed his name
to Cory and became widely known as the author of
" lonica."

I can now pass over my school-days until the Easter
half, 1863, when Eton was thrown into great excite-
ment by the marriage of the late King. By this time
I was well up in the Fifth Form, and had begun to
feel a great man. My first fag was Johnnie Edwards-
Moss, my second Willie Walrond, now Lord Waleran.
The following extracts relating to the marriage of the
Prince and Princess are from letters to my father : —

" There is great excitement here ; triumphal arches
all over the shop, stars, Chinese lamps and Prince of
Wales' feathers. Last Monday the Prince and
Princess drove out, so we were let off three schools.
She came through Eton about four, and I and about
half a dozen other chaps ran with her for nearly a
mile by the side of her carriage, so I had a stunning
view of her. She grinned away like beans, and so
did her mother. A fellow running by my side had
a bunch of violets which he gave her, and she smelt
them and bowed to him, and kept them in her hand.
No other fellows had the luck to get through the
crowd, so we had the carriage all to ourselves. She
is very pretty indeed, with a jolly colour, has a
beautiful complexion, and looks quite merry, but a
little shy; her mother is just like an English lady.
On Tuesday morning we assembled at 10.30. Every-
one had white kid gloves and a swell favour. When
we got up to the Castle we were let into a capital
place to see, just under the Lord Steward's stand.
The soldier in front of us amused us with his pithy
remarks, delivered in a surly tone of voice ; at last he
was quite overcome and offered to give us sixpence
each if we would leave off shoving. About this time
an old man with a large blue carpet bag walked up the
road. All the fellows cheered, which made the old
card look very sulky. After a bit some carriages all

1859-64] MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE 47

over gold came up with coachmen dressed like Dr.
Johnson in three-cornered hats and wigs. In the first
was D. Sing, dressed in his Oriental dress. This lot
was closed by the Danish Royal Family, a thinnish
Prince, one nice-looking young chap, and two girls ;
the smallest, Thyra, stood and looked out of the
window, and seemed awfully confused and astonished.
After waiting about half an hour, all the Princes and
Princesses came; the little chaps had kilts on.
Princess Helena looked very nice; last of all came
the Princess Royal, who got awfully cheered. The
next lot was Mayors and Councillors and Sheriffs, with
gorgeous footmen ; then came the Prince in a blue coat
and cocked hat. Next bridesmaids — all one saw was
petticoats sticking out of the window, and the tops of
their heads. At last came the Princess A. She looked
regular nailing, but was in a carriage all by herself.
She was dressed in white — I don't know the French
name for it, but it looked like muslin. She was a little
pale, but her eyes weren't red. At 2.30 the school
marched up again, and then there was awful fun, for
all up Windsor Hill the fellows cleared their way
through a dense crowd. I was very near the front
and saw all the fun ; my tutor knocked down a great
chap who tried to force his way through us, head over
heels. The fellows cleared the crowd off splendidly,
who saluted them with fancy names of all kinds. About
four hundred, I should think, going at the double, and
hooraying like beans, fought their way to the Castle
gates. The Bride and the Prince came about 3.30, and
went all down our line very slowly indeed. We saw
her beautifully."

We were at Cowes in the summer of 1863. March
and one or two Eton friends were at a tutor's at East
Cowes called Matthias, with whose aid we used to get
up cricket with the officers and crew of the royal
yacht which was in the Roads. I remember when
one of the sailors came to the wicket and I gave him
the usual directions for block he was hopelessly
puzzled, till one of his mates who was fielding came

48 CONFIRMATION [III.

up, and said, "Two points more to the southward
Bill," which gave him block at once.

I think it was this autumn that I was confirmed at
Eton by Wilberforce, the celebrated Bishop of Oxford,
known as "Soapy Sam." He preached a very fine
sermon on the occasion, delivered with the art of
which he was a master, which made a great impression
on me. In it he used a metaphor as to the accuracy
of which I have often made inquiry, but have never
got a satisfactory answer. He stated that at certain
great crises in men's lives their whole inner nature
suddenly stood revealed " as the lightning flash shows
the spokes in the running wheel." The text of this
discourse was " Except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone." This sentence
S. Oxon, clothed in lawn and decorated with the
ribbon of the Garter, rolled forth in his great deep
voice, emphasising some of the vowels in his lowest
and most awe-striking notes. Years passed away, and
I went one Sunday to a small Presbyterian church in
Scotland. A minister mounted the pulpit with a dour
face, looking like a sergeant in Cromwell's Ironsides,
with a long black moustache and clothed in a black
gown, who in harsh, rasping tones began : " Except a
corn of wheat," etc. At once there flashed before the
eye of my memory the imposing form of S. Oxon,
standing with his lawn sleeves uplifted over the
upturned row of faces in the spacious beauty of Eton
Chapel, and I realised the unity and the difference of
worship in this island.

For a fortnight after confirmation I tried hard to
follow the paths of virtue, and was probably for that
short space of time better than at any other period of
my career. However, I soon relapsed into the ways of

1859-64] "JUDY" 49

the average boy, and in November, this year, when
Windsor Fair was going on Melgund and I twice
descended after lock-up through the bars of a window
on to a wall and thence to the street, going up town and
strolling about the fair. I think this was done chiefly
for bravado, as I do not remember enjoying it, and had
we been detected the penalties would have been severe.

To my great sorrow it was settled that I was to
leave at Easter. My last half I was up to Durnford.
We liked Durnford, "Judy" as he was called, though
he had several peculiarities. One of these was an
unusually bad French pronunciation, which caused a
roar whenever he used a French phrase, which he was
fond of doing. I remember on one of these occasions,
after the yells had quieted down, that he created some
compunction by saying pathetically, "Ha, boys, it's
my misfortune, not my fault." We read the Odyssey
with him, and he used (justly) to praise to us Worsley's
translation — one of his comments which I remember
being "Two and fifty. Ha, boys, there appears the
real poet; you and I would have said fifty-two."

The grief of departure was tempered by the
excitement of "leaving books," a custom which was
then at its height. I did not get as much trash as
was sometimes the case, for most of my friends knew
that I was fond of books, and gave me books worth
having. But I remember a showy three volumes
called " Merrifield on Painting," given me by a small
boy, which consisted mainly in receipts for grinding
colours. I got eighty or ninety leaving books, which
made a good foundation for a library. I may say that
the custom of giving great numbers of these books,
and the trash which was given, led soon after to the
abolition of the practice.

L.L. E

CHAPTER IV
1864-1865

Boughrood — Life at the Rectory — Death of my brother — Fishing in
the Wye — My character — Figure as a poacher — Matriculation —
Adventure with bees — Tour in Switzerland.

ON April loth, 1864, I went to Boughrood, or
more properly Bwchrhydd Rectory, Radnorshire, the
abode of the Rev. H. De Winton. The house was
about eight miles from the town of Hay, beautifully
situated on the banks of the Wye, which there runs
over a ridge of coloured rocks into a long pool. The
far side of the river was shut in by a steep cliff covered
with trees and brushwood, but below the narrow
garden of the rectory was a ledge of turf from which
you could jump into ten feet of water.

Three other pupils called Fitzgerald, Goodford, and
Carter dwelt in this Eden, the last two sons of Eton
masters, the first an Uppingham boy.

Our preceptor, De Winton, had acquired considerable
reputation as a private tutor, which he thoroughly
deserved. He was a good all-round man, with an
athletic figure. His temper inclined to gloominess,
probably from the various worries connected with a
parish, ten children, and four pupils ; but he managed
to inspire awe, which is a great advantage to both
instructed and instructors. I certainly never acquired
knowledge before or since as soundly and rapidly as I
did with him. His wife was a nice-looking woman,
who got on well with the pupils.

1864-65] LIFE AT THE RECTORY 51

At first I found the methods in vogue at Boughrood
rather difficult. The amount we were supposed to
prepare for construing was about five times as long
as the Eton lessons, and I was rather put to it to keep
up with my fellows, who were all better scholars than
myself, especially when we translated unseen passages
without a dictionary.

I had never been in a really beautiful country before,
and as the early summer that year was exceptionally
fine and warm, it may be supposed that Boughrood
seemed to be a perfect Paradise. The water was so
warm that at the end of April we used every morning
to go down to the platform of turf below the house
and jump into the Wye, as perfect a form of bath in
its way as Boveney Weir. In the evenings my
principal recreation was fishing, and I flogged the
river assiduously. My efforts were occasionally
directed by the gardener at the rectory, a sort of
half-gipsy with all the instincts of a poacher, and a
first-rate fisherman.

I had not been more than a month at Boughrood
when I got the news that my younger brother, Walter,
had died of scarlet fever. He was a great pet of mine
and I felt his loss deeply. But I well remember, what
I have often experienced since that first great grief,
the sensation of wonder at the dull, dreamy feeling
which took possession of the mind, and being
indignant with myself that I did not suffer more acute
pain, but was able at times to talk and even laugh as
usual.

The district around Boughrood was a bi-lingual one,
most of the natives speaking both Welsh and English,
though their characteristics were decidedly Welsh;
for instance, they always said "good evening" in a

£ 2

52 FISHING IN THE WYE [IV.

mincing tone of voice, whatever time in the day it
was, and were rather peppery in the temper. They
were nearly all Dissenters, and the congregation at
our pretty church was a very small one. Talking of
the church, I think the best mutton I ever ate was the
flesh of some small hill sheep, which De Winton bought
and turned into the churchyard for a fortnight. The
Wye in those days harboured a few salmon, and we
occasionally rushed out from the study of the classics
to watch the capture of a fish in the run at the head
of our pool, which was fished by a retired major living
in an adjoining village. Now and then the Major
used to allow a neighbouring squire to have a turn,
who threw the best underhand cast I have ever seen.
It was a real treat to watch his fly go whizzing out
over the water about a couple of feet from the surface
and drop like a snowflake at the end of the throw.
This throw was not accomplished with the rod raised
as in the " Spey-cast," but was a genuine underhand
cast, the point of the rod never being raised above the
shoulder.

That great event in the life of every fisherman — the
capture of his first trout — took place about a month
after I went to Boughrood, in the water of a Mr.
Greenwood, some five or six miles up-stream. The
following extract from a letter to my father describes
an incident which took place in the same water, and
will, I am sure, appeal to all fishermen : —

" De Winton asked me to let him try my little rod.
I assented. After a few minutes, as I was sitting on
the rocks, I hear ' whirr, whirr, wi-ish ' ; I looked up
and saw all the line out, and De W. running like mad
and bellowing for the gaff. I tore off for the gaff and
saw a salmon jump out of the water a long way off.
De W. then began to wind up, when there was

1864-65] MY CHARACTER 53

another ' whirr, whirr,' and out went the line again,
and away went De W. running through the water.
Fearful excitement — a pause, De W. winding up, when
suddenly the line catches in a rock, slackens and comes
back. Alas ! the fish had got round a rock and cut the
line. Hopeless silence and reaction. De W. thought
the salmon weighed about eight pounds."

I shall conclude the narrative of my first term at De
Winton's by a quotation from a letter of his to my
father :

" Your son's turn of mind is satirical and leads him
to regard men and things generally in a ludicrous
point of view. Thus he views things quickly and
intelligently, but does not look much below the surface,
so that he is deficient in knowledge of common things,
both in the world which he sees and in the books
which he reads."

In fine summer weather Boughrood was such a
lovely place that existence there was enough, but in
the autumn and winter we found a lack of amusement.
Hence, as often happens, we got into trouble, being
taken up for poaching by the keeper of the adjoining
territory. Fitzgerald and Goodford had left, and a
new-comer had arrived called Faber (now Lord
Faber), with whom I became great friends, and have
been ever since. When the keeper appeared Faber
and Carter were on the right side of the hedge and
ran off. But I was captured by our enemy, a surly,
burly Welshman nearly as broad as he was long, and
my gun, an old single barrel belonging to De Winton,
was taken from me. There was a considerable row over
the affair, as our tutor was very angry with the keeper.
Eventually I had to call upon the owner of the
shooting, who forgave me in rather a consequential
manner.

54 MATRICULATION AT BALLIOL [IV.

Fate, however, was not long in giving us our
revenge. About a week after our humiliation, we one
afternoon heard a shot which appeared to come from
some land leased by De Winton. Sure enough we
found our enemy and two friends ferreting rabbits in
our orchard, and had the exquisite pleasure of seeing
them packed off bag and baggage by the infuriated De
Winton, and of afterwards reading a formal apology
which was duly sent.

In Easter, 1865, I was called upon to undergo the
dreaded ordeal for which I had been preparing by my
studies at Boughrood. My father took me up to
Oxford and we stayed at the old Mitre. The next day
I was introduced into the Hall at Balliol, where all
the Dons were assembled. Some six or seven youths
besides myself presented themselves to the examiners.
The paper work I got through pretty well, but was a
good deal disturbed when called up to construe before
the terrible Jowett, though surprised at the mild
benevolence of his appearance. He turned me on to
the passage in the Odyssey where the beggar bends
Ulysses' bow. I stumbled through the first six or
seven lines, and when I came to fj 5' v-nb KCL\OV aeto-e
X€\ibovi eiKfXr) avbrfv (which rang sweetly at the touch in
tone like a swallow) I rendered x&Cbovi, "tortoise," and
then, seeing that this interpretation was hopeless,
relapsed into the silence of despair. Jowett was also
silent, but after a while he said, encouragingly, " One
tortoise does not make a summer." I then saw my
error at once, and proceeded without mishap. About
four in the afternoon the agony was over, and to my
great joy I was told that I had been successful. One
other boy only got in — Grant, now Canon Grant,
lately Rector of Guildford.

1864-65] ADVENTURE WITH BEES 55

Seldom in my life do I remember happier hours
than the few which succeeded this ordeal. The
terrors of the Balliol matriculation were, I think,
rather exaggerated at Eton, and perhaps by De Winton
himself. But many men far better than myself had
been ploughed, and all we ordinary boys looked on
the test with awe. For a year it had been the chief
object of my thoughts and the end of all my work. So
that on that lovely April evening I was quite happy.
My father and I dined at the Deanery at Christ
Church, when I first saw the handsome but awe-
inspiring presence of my relation, the Dean.

After the holidays I returned in triumph to Bough-
rood, and applied myself to my studies. This year we
managed to get up some cricket matches of a rude sort.
The amusement which these gave us was not termi-
nated by the game, as we used to compose accounts
of them for the local papers in the best Bell's Life
style, interspersed with hackneyed quotations from
Shakespeare.

Carter had left at Easter, and Bickersteth, a son of
the Bishop of Ripon, took his place. He was fond of
music, and one day an itinerant German band appear-
ing on the scene, we locked Bickersteth into the study,
and paid the musicians to stand before the window
and all play different tunes.

It was in this term that I had what might have been
an unpleasant experience. De Winton was a bee-
keeper, and one day rushed into our room to ask us to
help him, as one of his hives had swarmed on a tree
on the lawn. We ran out and saw a huge cluster of
bees clinging to a bough some height from the ground.
A kitchen table was brought, and I was mounted upon
it, holding a hive under the swarm while our tutor

56 TOUR IN SWITZERLAND [IV.

proceeded to shake the bough. Before he did so one
of the legs of the table broke, and I fell right into the
edge of the swarm and felt that my head and face
were covered with bees. Fortunately, as I have said,
the river ran just below the garden, so I plunged in
without more ado, but received several stings in the
face and head, which produced considerable distortion
of the features for some days.

I think I have now said enough of my " work and
days " at Boughrood, which came to an end in July,
1865. I had made a considerable advance in classical
lore under De Winton, who was certainly one of the
best preceptors I have ever met.

In the month of August I went to Switzerland
with my father, J. B. Maule, the Recorder of Leeds,
and Alfred Sartoris, who had married one of the
Barringtons.

My first sight of a real mountain was the Jura from
the railway, and it may be supposed with what delight
I beheld the giants of the Oberland and Savoy. The
chaff and fun kept going by my father and Maule
would have made a tour in Siberia amusing, and with
fine weather and the glorious novelty of the mountains
we had a splendid time. However, the envious gods
soon came down on us, as after three weeks my father
got a fever and had to be taken down to Vevey. I re-
mained with him till he was convalescent, with nothing
to do but eat and loaf and read Tauchnitz' novels, and
then rejoined Maule and Sartoris at Chamounix, where
we had some good walks, but for me the delight of
our trip had taken flight now that my father was no
longer with us.

Harry Holland, now Lord Knutsford, and his second
wife were honeymooning at Chamounix, and were

1864-^5] HARRY HOLLAND 57

kind to me. He was then a wonderfully active man,
who could walk as well as the guides, whom he
astonished by jumping over stonewalls at the end of a
descent of Mont Blanc.

After a week at Chamounix I rejoined my father at
Geneva, and we went rather sadly homewards.

CHAPTER V
1865-1869

Balliol in 1865 — The dons— Breakfasts — R. T. Reid — Morrison's
Fours — Smalls — Cricket — Oxford Society — Reading party —
No. 5 staircase — Essays — Equestrian experiences — Meteors
— A plot — Sailing to London — Work for "Greats" — Zeit-
geist — Jowett — Lodgings — " Rokins " — Reading party at
Tummel — Jowett's habits — The giggles — William Graham —
The twelfth — Sacrament Sunday — Corpach — Green and Jowett
compared — "Greats" — Cowes — Mrs. Cameron — Changes in
home life — Ravensworth — Wimpole — Bramham and hunting —
Wildernesse.

IN October, 1865, my father took me to Balliol, where
we found that quarters had been assigned to me of the
smallest and darkest description. My parent, however,
by employing methods of corruption with the College
butler, contrived to have me transferred to a better
lodging, and I found myself established in a small
though cheerful apartment on the third floor in the
Garden Quad. My " scout " informed me that my
rooms had once been inhabited by Temple (afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury), and he showed me a
window seat on the staircase formed in the thickness
of the wall, in which was a gas lamp, where he said
Temple used to read to save the expense of candles.

I do not think that I have ever lived in a pleasanter
society than was to be found at Balliol in 1865. It was in
those days a small College, about eighty in number,
made up chiefly by batches of boys from all the leading
public schools, with a contingent of Scotchmen. The
Balliol scholarships were eagerly competed for, and
with the exhibitions attracted many of the best scholars

1865-69] BALLIOL IN 1865 59

in the country. The matriculation, as I have said
before, was a good deal above the standard of the
other Colleges, and was intended to secure the more
scholarly among the ordinary pupils of the schools,
though I fancy that the influence of Jowett occasionally
relaxed the test when he thought that social qualities
or position made it likely that a man would emerge
from the ruck in after life. All these public school
men, with some of the politer Scotchmen, lived
together in intimate fellowship, so that the College
consisted of a large circle of friends and acquaintances,
outside which was a smaller band of reputed bar-
barians, with whom we were always on good terms,
many of them, as they became better known,
passing into the larger circle.

The main difference between Balliol and the other
Colleges at that time was that at Balliol it was the
fashion to read, even if (which was rare) a man hunted
two days a week as well. All members of the College
were supposed to go in for honours in at least one
school, and were liable to be dismissed if they showed
signs of slackness. The staff of tutors was far the
best in Oxford. Scott was the Master, Jowett senior
tutor, and with him were associated Edwin Palmer,
Jimmy Riddell, Newman, Henry Smith, and T. H.
Green, all remarkable men, of whom I will endeavour
to give such sketches as can be produced by the pen
of an ordinary mortal, but which must not be mistaken
for the portraits of an artist.

Scott, the Master was a regular Don. He was a great
scholar, who could turn anything into Greek or Latin
verse, and had a tongue whose sharpness was occa-
sionally witty ; but he was stiff and austere, with few
of the qualities which enabled him to understand the

60 JOWETT [V.

undergraduate. Still he cannot have been deficient in
qualifications which make a good head of a College, as
Balliol had under his sway quite maintained her
position, and he had surrounded himself with an excep-
tionally capable staff.

Possibly some of this success was due to the
driving power of Jowett, who was reputed to take a
great part in the administration of the College. He
had risen to almost European fame in consequence
of the persecution to which he had been subjected
shortly before I went to Oxford ; and his influence was
at this time great, not only with the Dons, but also
with the undergraduates. The causes of this unique
position have always rather puzzled me. He had none
of the brilliant gifts of mind or body which usually
attract youth, he was not a great scholar or lecturer,
though his discourses, considered superficial by the
philosophers, certainly gave the ordinary man an
interest in his work. Nor was he a great saint or
kindler of high moral ideals, as his very oddity and
reserve, combined with the carefully thought out charac-
ter of all his utterances, gave them the effect rather of
texts finely carved upon a wall than of the words of a
teacher speaking from the fulness of his heart. His
conversation was serious and suggestive, but he had
little humour. Still there was no doubt that he
attracted, and at the same time inspired awe. Perhaps
his power lay to some extent in his unlikeness to other
people, but I think myself it was mainly due to his in-
domitable but unaggressive courage, which was such
that no consideration would ever turn him a hand's
breadth from what he thought he ought to say or do.
This fearlessness, combined with a remarkable power
of reasoned insight and a sympathy which was rather

1865-69] THE DONS 61

the result of reflection than feeling, made him a valuable
critic of a man's intellectual side, though I should say
that he was not a specially good judge of character as
a whole. The most bumptious undergraduate took a
truer and saner view of himself after half an hour with
Jowett ; the work of the cleverest was improved by
being pruned of affectation or unreality, while the indus-
trious but less brilliant student did not go empty
away.

Edwin Palmer was almost the only man I have ever
met in whom excessive shyness was combined with
extraordinary mental readiness. Looking as if he
longed every moment to bolt up the chimney, he could
pour forth in a quavering torrent of words a statement
on the most complicated matter, delivered in a finished
logical sequence, saying all that could be said on the
subject ; and finally, having utterly demolished you,
he hardly dared to look you in the face. His Virgil
lectures and his translations of the poet were as near
perfection as possible, yet his favourite method of
delivering them was to run up and down the room
with his eyes on the ground, and holding his pencil
in front of him between his fingers.

Riddell's great delicacy of nature showed itself in
his face as well as in his exquisite scholarship, and a
gentleness of character almost too good for this
world. He was my tutor when I first went up, but
died during my first year, when I was transferred to
Palmer.

Newman was undoubtedly the best lecturer I have
ever heard. He was a strange, shy man, with few
friends, living, I should think, chiefly in his books,
supposed to suffer from constant dyspepsia, and
to be unable to eat and drink as other men. He had

62 T. H. GREEN [V.

a curious twisted gait, like a billiard ball with the
screw on, which habit, in combination with his name,
procured him the nickname of " Noggs." He was
very much liked by those who came in contact with
him, and directed the historical studies at Balliol with
great success, having a singular power of kindling
men to the utmost efforts.

Henry Smith was a mathematician of world-wide
fame, and of great repute as a wit and talker, many of
his sayings being in the mouths of men. He had that
almost finicking silkiness of speech and manner
which seems to have prevailed at Oxford in the
fifties, and was also remarkable in Lord Coleridge
and Lord Bowen, giving additional point to the
conversational epigrams of all three.

T. H. Green was not the least remarkable of this
galaxy, to any one who had opportunities of knowing
them all ; though in the case of Green there were many
of the undergraduates who only came in contact with
him as Dean of Hall.

Philosophy was his department, but his lectures,
though profound and well thought out, were difficult
to follow, nor had he at any time the gift of clear
exposition. He was a man of the truest and most
sterling worth, and in after days became famous, as
much for his noble life as his philosophy. Under his
dark and stern exterior lay a warm heart and a genial
nature by no means unappreciative of an occasional
joke. It was not till late in my Oxford time that I
had the good fortune to become friendly with him,
and for the first two years I looked upon him and
" Noggs " more as interesting curiosities in our Balliol
museum than as big men and fervent teachers of high
thought and endeavour.

1865-69] R. T. REID 63

My first introduction to my future comrades was
achieved by a breakfast at Farwell's, who lived in a
small garret in the front quad. The Oxford breakfast
of those days was a fearful meal. It began with fried
soles and eggs and bacon, and continued with chops
and steaks of the most solid character. These were
followed by apricot jam, and finally by a large tankard
of spiced beer in winter, or cider cup in summer. Of
course this " Epularum lascivia " was confined to
banquets, the ordinary breakfast being of more usual
dimensions.

After the first start at Farwell's I had to go through
a great many breakfasts and wines, as it was con-
sidered the correct thing to entertain the freshmen in
this way. All this festivity, and the variety and
freedom of the life, somewhat interfered with my
work. But I was put down to attend the lectures
given for those who were trying for honours in
" Mods.," Riddell's Homer, Palmer's Virgil lecture, and
Wall's Logic. I remember that at the first lecture of
Riddell's which I attended my attention was arrested
by a scholar who came in late, roughly dressed, with
a shock head of light hair, a stubbly chin, and a clear-
eyed, fresh-coloured face, which looked as if it had
lately been plunged into cold water. This was
R. T. Reid, who afterwards became a great friend,
and whom as Lord Chancellor it is now my privilege
to serve. He had been a demy at Magdalen, and
wishing to stand for the Balliol scholarship had
been refused leave by the authorities of his college.
Without more ado he threw up his demyship, a bold
stroke for a man who was not rich, and went in for
the scholarship, which he won the year before my
matriculation.

64 MORRISON'S FOURS [V.

In connection with Riddell's lectures I cannot
refrain from telling the following incident. One of
Jowett's Scotch proteges, a clever young Caledonian,
but without much humour, was put on to construe in
the Agamemnon, and was rendering one of the splendid
choruses in broad Scotch and in a very matter of fact
way, till he came at last to the well-known " ewei
5i«x« wats TTOTCIVOV opviv" which he translated, " like a
yung mann purrsuing an imprack-ticable scheme."
Poor "Jimmy" sighed, and after a moment's silence
turned on another man.

In the way of amusement as an Eton man I took
naturally to the river and was told off to row in
" Morrison's Fours," a college competition for a cup
given by one of that family of oarsmen who had been
at Balliol. For this race we were put into training in
the old-fashioned way, which consisted in a plentiful
flesh diet tempered with dried cherries. My subjection
to this unpleasant regime was successful in so far as I
was in the winning boat, of which the present Mr.
Justice Deane was stroke, but produced a low state of
health from which I suffered for some weeks.

All these causes, together with a touch of Balliol
swagger, prevented my paying proper attention to the
claims of " Smalls, " a simple examination which came
at the end of the first term. The result was that I was
ploughed in arithmetic and went home a sadder and
a wiser man for my first vacation. However, the
catastrophe gave me a lesson, and I determined that it
should not happen again. So on my return to Oxford
I hired a National Schoolmaster and set to work to
learn the elementary rules of arithmetic. The attention
of the great Henry Smith had also been directed by the
College to my deficiencies, and I had to take him smal'

1865-69] OXFORD SOCIETY 65

sums two or three times a week, which he received
with a courteous enthusiasm of praise worthy of the
stiffest problems, a process which had the effect of
making me feel extremely foolish. However, between
him and the schoolmaster I succeeded in passing the
examination.

I do not suppose that life holds anything more
enjoyable, except perhaps a successful honeymoon,
than an undergraduate's first summer term at Oxford.
" Smalls " were past, " Mods." still in the distance ;
while the work, which under the Balliol system we
could not escape, gave a greater zest to our play.
Owing to a lucky innings in our opening game, I was
asked at once to play for the second eleven of the
College. Second eleven matches were very pleasant,
as in selecting the team a certain allowance was made
for social qualities, though the cricket never degene-
rated into the almost pure festivity of some of the
social cricket clubs.

In those days the Parks had only lately been re-
claimed from waste and cleared of doubtful characters.
As dear Jimmy Riddell is reputed to have said in a
Latin oration at the end of his Proctorship, " Agros
expurgavi qui Parks dicuntur." At any rate only
faint beginnings existed of the large town which now
lies to the north of Oxford, for, most of the Dons being
unmarried, there was no great demand for villa resi-
dences. The society of Oxford was then almost
entirely male, being confined to Common Room or
undergraduate entertainments, and young women of
our own class were a scarce commodity. I think that
this was, on the whole, beneficial, as the claims of
society and reading are not compatible. At any rate
it suited my personal disposition.

L.L. F

66 READING PARTY [V.

For my first summer vacation a reading party had been
arranged, of which " Bob Raper, " a popular young Don
of Trinity, had consented to be the coach. The mem-
bers of the party were R. T. Reid, Arthur Walter,
then at Christ Church, one Anderson, and myself.

My love for hills, kindled at Boughrood, and
developed in Switzerland, made me persuade my com-
panions to choose the Lakes for our habitat, and accord-
ingly I took lodgings for the party at Patterdale. Our
lodging was a pretty little cottage, covered with
creepers, and with a small garden attached, standing
on the edge of a beck which ran down the Grisedale
valley. We had a landing stage on Ulleswater 100
yards off, where we kept our boat.

I always maintain that a reading party is the nearest
approach to the /3ios reXetos which I have experienced
in this world. It is, or ought to be, composed of
picked friends. It is, or ought to be, in exceptionally
beautiful country. The objects of life lie clearly before
one in the shape of examinations to be passed ; and
the allotted tasks of each day give a zest to the
playtime, which makes the mildest amusements
acceptable. Of course there are contretemps, but
when the health and temper are good these make but
small impression. The first which we encountered
was the lack of baths in our lodging, and as the fashion
of the time was to look upon a cold bath not as "akin
to godliness," but as " godliness " itself, we took the
loss very seriously. The deprivation was especially
painful to Reid, who manifested his indignation by
splashing about his washstand to the extent that the
water descended through the ceiling on to the break-
fast table of a parson and his wife, who complained to
our landlord. This was the beginning of a series of

1865-69] READING PARTY 67

disputes which ended in a serious quarrel causing our
departure from the cottage to the hotel.

Our cottage stood on the land of Mr. W. Marshall,
whose home, " Patterdale Hall," was situated a short
distance off. He was a delightfully genial, apple-faced
old gentleman, who showed us the greatest kindness,
placing at our disposal an Oxford four-oared gig, very
superior to the heavy native craft, constantly asking
us to dinner, and sending down the newspapers every
day. He also allowed us to bathe every morning in
his grounds, where an ideal bath was supplied by the
Grisedale beck tumbling over a ridge of rocks into a
deep pool, enclosed in flat slabs of granite.

When the quarrel with our landlord resulted in our
leaving the lodgings, Mr. Marshall came to our help,
and arranged with one of his farmers to take us in.
The quarters in our new abode were an improvement,
though the situation was not so picturesque or handy
to the lake. We had also some difficulty with supplies,
as it was necessary to order meat beforehand, and
only possible to get beef on rare occasions. When
the local flesher contemplated killing an ox he sent
round a sort of map of the animal, on which the
various edible portions were marked off by lines like
counties in a map of England. Any one who was
ambitious of becoming a buyer of one of these portions
inscribed his name in that part of the map which
represented the piece he wanted. It was not till the
whole territory was covered with names of would-be
purchasers that the fiat for the slaughter of the animal
was pronounced, so it may be imagined that the
appearance of beef on the table was quite an event.

As soon as we were settled down in our new
dwelling we set strenuously to work. Reid, though

F 2

68 A FUTURE LORD CHANCELLOR [V.

a voracious reader, had some strands of laziness
woven into his otherwise strenuous nature. He had
great difficulty in leaving his bed in the morning, in
spite of the sympathetic assistance given by other
members of the party, who pulled off the bed-clothes,
disposed all kinds of unpleasant objects like sponges
and soap-dishes about the bed, and occasionally
turned in the cats of the establishment. Gleams of
his future greatness, however, occasionally showed
themselves. When we were at the hotel we got into
a hot dispute with the chambermaid over some
domestic detail. Reid harangued her in a manner so
judicial, convincing and conciliatory, that he completely
won her over ; and Walter, who had heard it,
announced his conviction that the orator would one
day be Lord Chancellor.

Besides walks, which led us in all directions over
the country, we spent a good deal of time on the
lake, rowing or bathing from an island where we had
discovered a good ledge for headers. One afternoon,
while occupied in this way, Reid expressed his
intention of swimming to the mainland, which he did.
On his way back one of those sudden squalls which
are common in the Lakes sprang up right in his teeth,
and very quickly raised a considerable lipper, which,
breaking on his face, contributed to the difficulty of
his progression. Seeing that he was getting tired,
two of us jumped into the boat and succeeded in
getting him on board, though in a state of considerable
exhaustion.

On getting back to Oxford in October (1866), I found
that I had been moved into better rooms, viz., a
pleasant apartment on the first floor of No. 5 staircase,
Garden Quad.

1865-69] No. 5 STAIRCASE 69

My friend Henry Primrose moved into the rooms
above me, Franco Charteris was below, and F. W.
Butterworth on the top floor, opposite to Primrose.
The rooms on the ground floor opposite to Charteris
were occupied by an unpopular character, who was
given to Ritualism and held services in his chamber
with incense, vestments, and lights. These were an
abomination to the other dwellers on the staircase, who
used to express their dissent by occasionally smoking
out the performance, by means of damp squibs thrown
into the man's lobby inside the "oak" or outer door.

In these rooms I spent two years, as happy a time
as a man could wish for. I took to racquets, which
we had had no chance of learning at Eton, and with
that, and boating and cricket in summer, had no time
on my hands. Besides my work for the schools, I
joined the South Kensington drawing classes held at
the Museum under Mr. Macdonald, and after two or
three terms obtained a Government certificate for
freehand drawing.

Unfortunately it was not fashionable to belong to
the Union, and I never joined that society — a great
mistake, as a capacity for public speaking would have
been of more practical use to me than all the other
Oxford acquirements put together. I became, how-
ever, a member of the Eton Club, of Vincent's, and
of one or two cricket clubs.

The work at Balliol consisted entirely of prepara-
tion for coming exams., and was much the same as at
other colleges, with the exception of a weekly essay
which we had to read every Saturday to the Master.
This was at first a severe task to me, as we had had
no such exercises at Eton or De Winton's, and I found
it uncommonly difficult to put together four pages on

70 EQUESTRIAN EXPERIENCES [V.

"Casuistry" or the "National Debt" in one or two
hours on Friday evening. Like others of our set, I
occasionally had recourse to Andrew Lang, whose
good nature and extraordinary power of disquisition
made him willing and able to knock off an essay on
any subject in half an hour.

In the autumn term of 1866 I determined to go in
for equestrian exercise, a pursuit which had been
entirely neglected since the days of my pony in
Richmond Park. Accordingly I arranged with one of
my friends, who was knowing in horseflesh, to order
a quiet hack from Charley Symonds, and to accompany
me on my first essay. Of course the thing got out,
and a crowd of mocking friends attended to see me
start. No sooner had I, amid loud applause, climbed
clumsily into the saddle, than the animal went off
through the streets like the wind. I suppose my
unskilful efforts alarmed him still more, for I found
myself being rushed at breakneck speed down the
Turl, my horse threading the small trees which line
the road in a most terrifying manner. At last,
after many hairbreadth escapes, I managed to stop
his career ; my companion came up in fits of laughter,
and we proceeded without further mishap. In con-
sequence of this performance my father sent me in the
Christmas vacation for lessons to the Blues' Barracks
in Albany Street. There I had a most unpleasant
time, as the weather was very wintry, and I had in the
very coldest blood to ride the most disagreeable
animals, finishing up with a beast whose sole metier
was to buck-jump. The chief instructor was a fine,
handsome corporal called " Sharpies," who, I think,
must have had gentle blood in his veins, and who was
always encouraging and friendly.

1865-69] A CONSPIRACY 71

Another event of the October term, 1866, remains in
my memory, viz., the display of meteors which took
place about the middle of November. The night when
the big show was expected was exceptionally warm
for the time of year, and tables were drawn out into
the quad, round which the members of the College sat
drinking mulled beer and shouting "mark over" on
the appearance of one of the meteors.

After the meteors I remember nothing worthy of
note till the following Spring term (1867), when an
event occurred which I will relate in the words of a
letter to my father.

" The Dons refused to allow a bump supper in hall,
which so enraged the College that a dark conspiracy
was organised to snow up the Chapel door. I was
very tired that night, so did not join, but saw just
before retiring about twenty conspirators file darkly
into quad, armed with fire shovels and slop pails.
Their idea was to fill up the passage to the Chapel
with snow, so as to prevent the Dons from going to
early service. To effect this blankets and rugs were
brought up, the snow piled on them, and then carried
to the passage aforesaid."

I am afraid that this design, though finely conceived,
was a failure, as the scouts managed to cut a passage
through into Chapel, which let the Dons in within half
an hour of the usual time. Afterwards, on the advice, it
was said, of the ingenious " Jowler," navvies were had
into college, who cleared all the snow from both quads,
for which precaution we were charged ten shillings a
head in our " battels." So that " Law and Order "had
the best of it.

There can be too much of the " ordinary " even in
the life of an " ordinary mortal," so now that I have
given my readers a picture of myself with the

72 SAILING TO LONDON [V.

Oxford background, I will confine my narrative to the
more prominent occurrences of my time at the
University. In the Summer term of 1867 I was captain
of the second eleven, which I am afraid interfered with
my studies for " Mods./' as the examination came on
towards the end of that term. When this ordeal was
over I and two of my friends determined to navigate
the river to London in a centreboard sailing boat.
This was the first of two or three similar journeys.
These boats, sailing very close to the wind and
being quick in stays, were well suited for river naviga-
tion, and it made comparatively little difference which
way the wind was, as if foul in one reach, the navigator
was certain to be able to lay his course in the next.
Under many of the bridges it was necessary to unship
the mast, and my crew became so skilful in this
manoeuvre that with the wind dead ahead they could
shoot an arch in stays, unshipping the mast after the
wind was out of the sails and shipping it again in
time to fall off on the other tack. It was a delightful
life, as you never knew what port you would reach by
bedtime; indeed in calm weather we sometimes did
not get in till one or two in the morning. Occasionally
we tried sleeping on the stream, but found that about
four a mist rose from the water which produced
feelings in the morning like those following on ball-
champagne. When we arrived at Richmond, we got a
newspaper containing the " Mods. " List, and I found,
to my disgust, that my name was only in the third
class.

In the following term I began to work for " Greats,"
attending Newman's lectures on Greek History, Green's
Philosophy, and Jowett's Plato and Divinity Lectures.
As may be supposed, after an education hitherto

1865-69] WORK FOR "GREATS" 73

devoted to scholarship, these subjects opened quite a
new outlook, and turned my attention to "hohe heim-
liche dinge," which had before dwelt apart from my
ken. The time was well fitted to stimulate curiosity.
The investigations of Darwin had recently supplied a
key which was then popularly supposed to unlock all
knowledge, and had really given an immense impulse
to inquiry. The aesthetic movement had greatly
improved taste, and in spite of its follies had given
many of the rising generation a real love for Art.
Swinburne by the publication of " Poems and Ballads "
and " Atalanta in Calydon " had shown us that poets
also lived in our days. Accordingly I devoted myself
fervently, though superficially, to all these new subjects.
Divine philosophy especially attracted me, though like
a page who loves a princess, I felt her glamour, but
also the impossibility of a complete understanding,
attending T. H. Green's lectures with an ardour which
frequently became despair. This state of mind con-
tinued during the two and a half years in which I read
for "Greats," a period which influenced my tastes,
opinions, and character, more than any other of my
life.

One of the causes of this activity was my acquaint-
ance with Jowett, who sent for me and asked me to
write essays for him. The reading of these, before
familiarity had lessened the awe inspired by the
popular idea of " Jowler," was a trying process. The
pupil sat on one side of the fire and the critic on the
other, while the pupil read his composition in faltering
tones. This was succeeded by a long silence, after
which some brief and sometimes rather cutting remarks
would follow in the high tones of the philosopher.
We were rather apt to groan over this " extra," quite

74 BALLIOL BREAKFASTS [V.

forgetting that it was a pure piece of kindness on
Jowett's part, for which he never received a farthing,
and for which, in the case of ordinary mortals who
would not be likely to add specially to the lustre of
the College, there was nothing whatever to repay
him.

Meanwhile there had been considerable changes on
No. 5 staircase. Franco Charteris had left at the end
of the Spring term. Arthur Godley succeeded to his
rooms, and joined our breakfast club. Butterworth
also having gone out of College, Donoughmore, taking
rooms on the staircase, became a member. These
breakfasts were very pleasant meals. Their especial
features were the Balliol toast, the Balliol cold chicken
known as " cock," and Oxford marmalade. The fowl
above mentioned was served cold, half a carcase at a
time, and was of a breed of extreme toughness and
stringiness.

In the Long Vacation of 1868 I again went to Patter-
dale as one of a reading party, but this time we had
no coach. My companions were Arthur Godley, my
cousin, Edward Liddell, and Archie Wortley, after-
wards well known as an artist. We occupied a cottage
next to the one we had in 1866.

On returning to Oxford in October I had to give up
my rooms in College, and Primrose and 1 took lodgings
in the road going to the Parks. The greater freedom
of lodgings and the possibility of giving dinners made
them popular with most undergraduates, but I per-
sonally was sorrowful at exchanging the solid comfort
of college rooms for the lustres and horsehair sofa of
a lodging. There was, however, one consolation. My
family having lately moved from Sheen to London, I
was entrusted with the care of the family pet, a rough

1865-69] "ROKINS" 75

terrier full of ability and character, known as "Toby,"
or to his intimates as " Rokins." Our landlady at first
was unpleasant, but " Rokins " soon won the hearts of
all at the lodgings, and was adopted as one of the
household, sleeping in the dirty clothes locker in my
bedroom, accompanying Primrose or myself in-
differently, or taking walks on his own account. I
shall never forget one day seeing his sagacious head
peer slowly round the half-open door in the middle of a
lecture of T. H. Green's, to the delight of the whole
assembly, though how he had contrived to elude the
vigilance of the College porter I could never divine.
Alas, poor " Rokins," his end was a sad one ! Love
was his bane, as it has been of so many interesting
characters. While down at the Balliol raft one day
with Primrose, he endeavoured in pursuit of the fair
to jump on to the adjoining raft, and falling into the
river, which was in flood, was swept under one of the
house-boats, to emerge no more. I had to go that
evening to a ball at Kirtlington, and it was with
difficulty that I could keep down the lump which was
rising in my throat all the evening as I thought of his
head peering round the lecture-room door, with one
ear cocked and his fine brown eyes looking anxiously
around for his master.

During the Spring and Summer terms of 1869 there
was more work and less play, as " Greats " were now
approaching, and I do not remember any events worth
inserting in this story. In the Long Vacation I joined
Jowett at Tummel Bridge in Perthshire. This was
my first visit to the Highlands, and they at once threw
a spell over me, the memory of which returns whenever
I smell a piece of bog-myrtle.

Our quarters were in a solitary little inn, close to a

76 READING PARTY AT TUMMEL BRIG [V.

high-arched bridge which carries the road from Pit-
lochry to Glen Lyon across the Tummel. To the west
were the slopes of Schihallion, whose great ridge rose
slowly to the summit over Loch Rannoch in a splendid
curve like the back of a couchant lion. I formed quite
an attachment for this mountain, and still think of it
from time to time as of a noble Cheiron at whose feet
I sat and worshipped before setting out on the journey
of life.

The party was, as usual in those shepherded by
Jowett, of a mixed character, being made up on his
principle of fusing the different sets in the College.
It consisted of Rutherford Graham, and myself, with
two of Jowett's proteges, hitherto unknown to me.

Reading with Jowett was a serious business. After
8 o'clock breakfast was over we worked till 4 o'clock.
The weaker vessels were allowed to go out on to the
bridge and get a whiff of fresh air for a few minutes
about i o'clock, but the Professor himself never stirred
after coming in from a short turn after breakfast. On
this walk he used to make me accompany him, and
give a vivd voce analysis of the Plato which I had read
the day before. When I first was bidden to undertake
this exercise I thought it would be impossible. But I
rapidly improved, and after a few days found that it
was only a question of taking pains. I may say that
I soon began to wish that I had been compelled to do
something of the sort before, as I found it most
effective in improving the memory, clearing the ideas,
and cultivating a clear way of speaking.

The half-hour after breakfast was looked upon by
Jowett as a mere amble for the purposes of discourse.
When it came to be a question of "exercise" it was a
much more formidable affair. Partly to save time,

1865-69] THE "-GIGGLES" 77

and partly from a mistaken idea of the laws of digestion,
Jowett's exercise took the form of rushing up the
nearest hill immediately dinner was over. One or
more of us had always to accompany him on this
sortie, and my digestive arrangements being feeble, I
suffered a good deal from this penance. As soon as
he was exhausted he would retrace his footsteps down-
hill at a slower pace, and for the rest of the day his
silvery head might be seen bent over his books. I
think he was then revising his Plato for publication,
but whatever his occupation was, there never seemed
to be any end to it.

Among the minor benefits which old age brings is
an absence of that painful affliction called the
"giggles," which in our young days causes hours of
severe anguish and often of bitter remorse. Partly
from a sort of hysteria brought on by our awe of
Jowett, and partly from a natural reaction after our
long studies, we suffered particularly from this com-
plaint at Tummel Brig. It began by a very painful
incident. A few days after our arrival, Menzies, our
landlord, a great, strong, red-faced Highlander, died
suddenly. In accordance with the custom of the
country, the widow expressed a wish that we should pay
our last respects to the remains, and Jowett intimated
that we were to attend him in this melancholy duty.

Accordingly we all put on our Sunday clothes and
accompanied our master and the widow to the deceased
man's chamber. There the sight of Jowett standing
with the widow by the body, and a horrible hysteria
made irresistible by the vivid recognition of the enor-
mity of our conduct, proved, after prolonged struggles,
to be too much for us, and Graham and I had to make
our exit in roars of laughter.

78 VISITORS AT TUMMEL BRIG [V.

Jowett was very angry, as he had a right to be, not
then only, but many times after, as this unfortunate
attack left us weak and liable to infection in the future.
The seizures of this distressing complaint generally
came on at dinner, and were mainly caused by Jowett's
pronunciation of the Gaelic names in the neighbour-
hood, chiefly of a certain hill which he always called
" Foss-hair " Mount. Of course the malicious demons
who watch over human affairs were always bringing
the conversation round to this hill, which, unfor-
tunately, was a conspicuous landmark. It was quite
enough at last for the talk to approach anything within
six miles of this fatal place, for a fearful feeling of
apprehension lest the dreaded name should be men-
tioned to bring on choking for us, and for Jowett
wrath. Twice did he solemnly tell us a story of
Tennyson, to the effect that once when some one
narrated how while walking in company with two
friends he had fallen into the water through the
breaking of a plank, and that neither of his friends
had even smiled, the poet boomed out in his deep voice,
" Then there are still two gentlemen left in Europe. I
shouldn't have thought it." Alas ! this apologue only
excited fresh outbursts of mirth, which we tried to
make out arose from Tennyson's wit.

Occasionally the monotony of our studies was
lightened by visitors for Sunday, among whom were
Sir A. Grant, Henry Lancaster, and Swinburne. I
was away when Swinburne came, but I remember the
others well. Sir A. Grant was a big, fine-looking man
in a velvet jacket, like a sporting nobleman rather
than the author of " Grant's Ethics." Lancaster, on
the other hand, with his massive, smooth-shaven face
and square figure, looked the character of a literary

1865-69] WILLIAM GRAHAM 79

advocate exactly, and was an immense addition to our
circle, from his jovial bearing and good talk. If any of
my readers should come across his now almost for-
gotten book of essays, let me recommend them to buy
it. They will not easily find more interesting criticism.

I have mentioned Rutherford Graham as one of the
party at Tummel Brig. He was a handsome youth,
strong and well built, and with a kind of recklessness,
both as regards himself and other people, which pos-
sessed considerable attraction. His father, William
Graham, then one of the members for Glasgow, rented
a charming place some ten miles from the Brig, called
Urrard, to which I was invited to come over for a day
or two.

William Graham had a curious combination of
qualities, which could not easily be found except in a
Scotchman. He was a member of some ultra-strict
Calvinistic sect, and united to a sincere and unaffected
piety a devotion to art which was almost pagan, and
certainly embraced art in its most different forms, from
Florentine Madonnas to Venuses by Rossetti. The
same sort of contrast was visible in the outward man.
He had a beautiful face with an aureole of misty hair
which made him look like a saint in a frock coat, but
behind this appearance were the body and thews of a
sportsman and athlete. He was a capital shot, a first-
rate fisherman, and I think the best walker I ever
saw, going with a springy gait like a Swiss guide.

Urrard was well situated on a ledge above the
Garry with a wood behind, beyond which lay the
moors. In the house were several beautiful pictures
by F. Walker, Burne-Jones, and Rossetti, the first of
the modern school which I had seen, and which, as a
son of the age, I worshipped and still worship.

8o SACRAMENT SUNDAY [V.

The day after our arrival was the i2th of August,
and Rutherford and I started off at an early hour, this
being the first time I had ever fired at a grouse.
Things began badly, by my companion letting off his
gun before he had got it up, and making a large hole
in the body of the best setter. We had to kill the poor
beast at once, and piled stones over his body. This
incident cast a gloom over our day, which in my case
was deepened by my bad shooting, a humiliating and
depressing defect in a shy man starting life in a
sporting society, and one from which I suffered acutely
for many years.

I will conclude this part of my narrative by the
following extract from a letter written at Tummel
describing a scene characteristic of the place :

" To-day was one of those Scotch festivals on which
the Sacrament is administered. A wonderful number
of people came flocking up to the little church near
the bridge, considering the uninhabited appearance of
the district ; hoary old men in bonnets, women in tartan
shawls, and here and there a Gael in a kilt. The church
was much too small to hold them all, so half of them
had an outdoor service, making a most romantic
picture. The men with their bonnets off, their white
heads bent reverently forward, the preacher gesticu-
lating furiously, the lonely glen, and Tummel growling
in defiance of the parson, all made me think that we
were witnessing a secret service of the old Covenanters.
On a sudden Schihallion caught a stray cloud, down
came the rain, up went the umbrellas, and romance
fled scared to heaven."

After some six weeks with Jowett I left to join
T. H. Green at a place called Corpach, on the shores
of Loch Eil. To get to that part of the world I had to
drive across Scotland from Kingussie to Fort William,
my sole experience of a journey of any length by

1865-69] CORPACH 81

coach, which I cannot say made me regret railways,
beautiful as was the country through which we passed.

There I found a community of several friends
inhabiting a small cottage on the shore of the loch, and
bossed by T. H. Green. It was a typical reading party
which might easily have been sung by Clough, and
T. H. Green would have made a good imitation of the
" Grave man nicknamed Adam."

The following is from a letter written shortly after
my arrival at the cottage :

" Besides the ' MacGreen ' we have here John Bryce
(now in Parliament), and Philip Lee. Tom Green, the
chieftain, is a first-rate cove, pronounces all his words
very distinctly, never makes an unfounded statement,
and is earnestness itself in all things, Nevertheless
he has plenty of fun in him and is most improving
company. We had a sermon last Sunday from Norman
McLeod; the matter I liked in some parts, but his
style was too colloquial for my taste, though possibly
suited to his audience. After church we went up
Nevis — a large party, viz., we three, with Buckland
and his brother, a Harrow boy, who are staying at the
hotel. We had a pleasant ascent and got a good view.
The MacGreen went very well, though slowly. There
are some magnificent precipices on the north side of the
mountain, where on the dark rock, amid crevasses
filled with snow, you see, to your indignation, painted
in large letters, ' Try the Waverley Pen.' "

It would be difficult to find two men more unlike than
Green and Jowett. Jowett was very different from an
ordinary Englishman, resembling in everything but the
austerity of his morals an abbe of the old French type,
a would-be man of the world, brilliant with a sort of
silvery radiance, taking an intellectual rather than
sympathetic interest in men and things. With all his
virtue he was hardly a man, and one could not imagine
him ever having gone wrong or ever filling any other

L.L. G

82 GREEN AND JOWETT [V.

post but that of a Don. Green, on the other hand,
was a Briton to the backbone, of the old Puritan type.
He had a rather dark stern face thatched with a shock
of iron-grey hair, with a firmly-built body, which
might, if he had ever exercised it, have been athletic. He
was silent and expressed himself with difficulty, but
you had no doubt of the depth of his sympathy, and felt
that except for his practised self-control he was a man
of like passions with yourself. There was no touch of
worldliness in his composition; indeed, he was by
nature a recluse, only his stern sense of duty forcing
him to take part in municipal affairs. Jowett was
always the revered schoolmaster, in whose company
we endeavoured to be virtuous for fear of exciting his
displeasure. But Green was an elder brother, in
whose society we were ashamed to be selfish or mean,
and who taught rather by example than precept.

Green was by no means as eupeptic as Jowett, and
under his rule ordinary hours prevailed, and we were
spared running up hill directly after dinner. Our
fare, however, was simple, not to say monotonous,
and one of the jokes we indulged in at the expense of
our instructor, was to ask him whether herrings and
mutton were related as cause and effect, or only
as following each other in Time. Green took great
trouble with me, but his thoughts were too deep for
an ordinary mortal, and I could only vaguely see
what he was driving at. What I enjoyed more than
my regular lessons was a walk that I often used to
take with him before bedtime, when he would talk
on all sorts of topics. Among many things, for which
I shall always be grateful to him, was the reverence
he inspired in me for law and order, not merely in the
great world but in social and domestic trifles, and the

1865-69] T. H. GREEN 83

consequential dislike of the "aTreipov," a salutary
lesson for one of the careless tendencies which I
have mentioned at the end of Chapter I. I remember
in these walks his expressing admiration for the
ballad of " Rosabelle," for Shelley's "When the
lamp is shattered," and for Browning's " O lyric love,
half angel and half bird," poems which he used to
recite with a mixture of shyness and enthusiasm as
we paced the loch-side under the newly washed
stars, for it generally rained all day in that country,
and cleared at night. Though we had no continuous
spell of work like the so-called morning at Tummel
Brig, we were very industrious. There was no
fishing to be got as in the Tummel, but we used to
ascend Ben Nevis, which was only two or three miles
off, and go over to Fort William in a small boat which
we had hired. Once, coming back, we were caught
out in the loch in heavy weather, and had some
difficulty in making way against the sea, which was
considerable. Green was a nervous man, and being
quite unaccustomed to sea-boating was very ill at ease
as the spray came over us in showers, while we
reassured him by saying that if the worst came to the
worst he would only be "absorbed into the Absolute."
Another form of recreation was partaking of a Scottish
supper at the Manse, which was temporarily held by
the well-known Norman McLeod, who had a cheerful
family of daughters. One night there we met the
celebrated Professor Blackie, who straightway lifted
up his voice and delivered a long Philippic against
Oxford, which made us very indignant, though we
had sufficient politeness to listen in silence.

On my return to Oxford I went for my last term
into rooms with Arthur Vaughan in the house of a

G 2

84 "GREATS" [V.

widow woman in the region of Worcester College.
The shadow of " Greats " now hung over my existence,
and I spent the time chiefly in wondering in which of
the many branches of knowledge comprised in the
examination I was most deficient, and in sorrowing at
the end of my Oxford days. When the list came out
I found that I had got a " Second," which was not a
disappointment, as I knew that my chance of anything
better was infinitesimal. To show how strange are
the results of an examination, I may say that R. L.
Nettleship was in the same class as myself.

I have purposely abstained in the above narrative
from dealing with my home life, which, as less
eventful than that at Oxford, can be told more shortly,
by merely touching on one or two occurrences which
are perhaps worth recording.

Up to the end of 1867 the holidays were spent at
Park Cottage and at Cowes, where my father rented a
house for the summer. For one or two seasons my
uncle, Augustus Liddell, took a dwelling near ours, so
that with his family and the two Legard boys, I had
no lack of playmates. Our time was spent almost
entirely in sailing either in Captain Legard's yacht,
or in a smaller cutter which had been lent to my
father.

In the summer of 1868 we were again at Cowes,
and I went to Freshwater to stay with Franco Charteris,
who was at the hotel. There I renewed acquaintance
with Mrs. Cameron, who is mentioned in the first
chapter of this book. She had since that time become
famous as a photographer, being almost the first to
attempt the artistic photograph, and to apply the laws
of composition and chiaroscuro to that form of picture.
She belonged to the well-known Calcutta family of

1865-69] MRS. CAMERON 85

the Patties, so remarkable for their individuality that
Lord Dalhousie divided mankind into " men, women
and Patties." Nor did she decline from the family
type, being a person of the most indomitable resolution,
who, if she had once set her mind on any end, never
rested until she had attained it. The story of her
forcing Tennyson to be vaccinated is well known.
Just before I visited her she had had another triumph.
The Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia had come
to Ventnor for a quiet time, and were living in the
strictest retirement, seeing no one but their own family.
Mrs. Cameron, however, set to work, and somehow or
other succeeded in time not only in being admitted to
their house, but in photographing the Crown Prince
himself. She lived in a small house in Freshwater,
where her studio was set up, with Mr. Cameron, who
was a good deal older than his wife. He was a most
picturesque old man, with long silvery hair and beard.
At dinner he sat at the head of the table, and was
usually quite silent. Once, however, when I was
dining there, he created a great sensation, for on some
one mentioning the word spirit, he suddenly in deep
tones said, " I shall soon be a spirit." When dinner
was over, and the guests left the room, he was covered
up with a shawl and left there till his bedtime, looking
like a piece of furniture in an empty house.

Among other inmates of the establishment were two
beautiful maids, chosen by Mrs. Cameron with a view
to their appearing in the historical and other scenes
which she represented in her photographs. One of
them usually sat for the full face, the other for the
profile.

Just before I made their acqaintance one of these
beauties had become engaged, to the great delight of

86 CHANGES AT HOME [V.

Mrs. Cameron, to a young Indian Civil Servant. There
had been an exhibition of her works in London, and
the young man had seen some of the portraits of the
maiden. As he shared the views urged by Horace on
"Xanthias Phoceus," he wrote to Mrs. Cameron, and
asked leave to pay his addresses. Mrs. Cameron at
once asked him to stay, and after a time the affair was
settled. The wedding took place a few days after our
arrival at Freshwater, and created no small sensation.
The bridegroom brought down a posse of his friends,
rather learned, bookish-looking persons. Mrs. Cameron,
on her part, collected many of the beauties whom her
indefatigable energy had hunted up from the neigh-
bouring regions to act as her models. On the night
before the wedding there was a dinner to which she
bade Charteris and myself, which was attended by a
selection from these two classes. I sat between the
two maids, and I don't think I ever felt more shy, or
had greater difficulty in making conversation. When
the wedding was over Charteris and I, who were going
to Cowes, had the pleasure of escorting a lovely
chemist's assistant, who was bound for Portsmouth.
Charteris, who had a beautiful face, did not escape the
ogress of the camera, and I was myself victimised.

This autumn brought great changes in my home
life. In September Lord Derby offered my father the
Under Secretaryship of State in the Home Depart-
ment, which he accepted, as he was tired of the work
and anxiety of the Bar. I went to see him when I
passed through London in October on my way to
Oxford, and found him in possession of a charming
old-fashioned room in the buildings at Whitehall, now
occupied by the Privy Council Office.

In the following November I was suddenly sum-

1865-69] RAVENS WORTH 87

moned from Oxford by the illness of my mother. She
died the same night, an event which greatly altered
our whole way of living, which had hitherto been
adapted to and coloured by my mother's state of
health.

These were Fenian times, and the Clerkenwell
explosion took place in December. As there were a
good many Irish in Mortlake, it was thought necessary
to shadow my father, and he was followed in his
daily walks to and from the train by two detectives.
This was very irksome to him, and together with the
inconvenience of being so far from his office, where
he was sometimes wanted on short notice, decided
him to come to London. Accordingly, in the summer of
this year (1868) he bought No. 49, Rutland Gate,
where we lived till his death.

In the autumn of 1868 I again visited Ravens-
worth, where my father's eldest brother Henry now
reigned. He was a person of marked individuality.
He had never been at a public school, but was sent
to Cambridge in charge of a tutor. The result of
this education and of his position as an eldest son
was that he took rather a serious view of himself
and his dignity. He was in his youth a very active
man, a good fencer and shot, being remarkably quick
in all his movements. He was also a fair scholar of
the old school, an attainment which he owed a good
deal to his remarkable memory, which enabled him
to go on anywhere in Virgil or Horace, or in most
places in the Bible, and placed at his disposal a great
mass of varied information. In spite of his rather
despotic habits he was good to all his young relations,
and being fond of shooting in those days, Ravensworth
was to me a sort of Paradise, in spite of my incapacity

88 WIMPOLE [V.

to hit anything. While there my bad shooting had
no more serious results than profound dejection on
my part, and occasional outbursts of indignation from
his Lordship ; but, as will be seen from what follows,
its effects were not always so trivial.

In the beginning of September, 1868, there being no
one available for opening the campaign against the
partridges at Wimpole, my uncle Hardwicke sent
myself and his youngest boy Alick, down there for
the i st. In those days, either by custom or covenant,
the corn on the Wimpole estate was cut with a sickle,
the tenants being bound to leave some inches of
stubble. This made admirable cover for partridges,
and rendered the fields so treated much pleasanter
going for the sportsmen than wading through turnips.
My uncle, who, as will have been gathered from this
narrative, was unlike other people, paid his keeper in
a way of his own, viz., one shilling for every pheasant
killed, sixpence for every partridge, fourpence for
hares, and threepence for rabbits. We had splendid
weather and set out in great glee, being comparatively
indifferent, there being no elder present, as to
whether we hit or missed. Not so was it with the
keeper. He had to contemplate sixpences flying
away untouched, or at the most skimming off to
irrecoverable distances with broken legs, fourpences
touched in the hinder parts escaping in all directions,
and wounded threepences wriggling into their holes.
Being a good Cambridgeshire Puritan, he confined
himself to saying, " Please God, ye'll hit next time " ;
but as he saw the prospects of his year's income
gradually lessening his face grew longer and longer.
This state of things lasted for three days, during
which Alick and I blazed away contentedly, and

1865-69] WIMPOLE 89

enjoyed the fun of being the sole inmates of the great
house, and the excellent entertainment afforded by the
housekeeper. At the end of that time my uncle came
down. He was at once approached by the keeper,
who pointed out to him the effect that our want of
skill was having upon his prospects, and humbly
asked to be allowed to carry his own gun. Lord
Hardwicke, though a great martinet, was a very just
man, and at once granted his request, after which I
need hardly say our bags became larger.

I remember during this visit being struck with a
novel pig-stye, invented by my uncle. A deep pit
was dug in the ground at the bottom of which was
placed a young pig just beginning life. Certain
quantities of straw were let down to the animal which
he gradually converted into manure, thus constantly
raising the level of his dwelling until by the time he
became flush with the surface he had not only
rendered his own carcase fit for killing, but had pro-
duced a large mass of first class dressing, which was
taken from his pit and distributed for farm purposes.

On a visit to Bramham about this time I had my
one and only experience of the hunting-field. Now
that I was able to stick on to a horse my father was
very anxious that I should become a Nimrod, and
asked my uncle, George Fox, who kept the Bramham
hounds, to send me out.

Accordingly one morning about the middle of
October I was mounted on an animal called " High
Price " and sent off at an early hour with my cousin
Henry Fox. The meet was at 10 o'clock, and as we
were not thought worthy of hacks we had to walk our
impatient steeds along the high road to the rendezvous.
My animal went sideways like a crab, fidgeting and

90 BRAMHAM AND HUNTING [V.

dancing about nearly the whole way ; so that I did
not much enjoy that part of the performance. At first
we drew several coverts without success, but about
2 o 'clock, as I was getting fearfully bored, I suddenly
saw a fox get away and found myself in a capital
position for a start. Away went " High Price " like a
rocket, and for the first and last time in my life I
felt the thrill of the chase and understood the basis on
which an organisation has been reared which numbers
all classes among its votaries and flourishes in all
regions of the globe. My exaltation, however, did not
last long, as after we had gone for about a mile and a
half and had careered successfully over several fences,
I lost a stirrup and found myself prone in a ploughed
field. " High Price," with great delicacy of feeling, did
not go far, but was restored to me by a rustic, and I
soon came up with the chase, who were gathered about
an earth into which the fox had disappeared. Here I
received the satirical congratulations of my uncle. As
all efforts failed to dislodge our prey, we abandoned
the chase for the day and walked home at a foot's pace,
a very tedious performance. The next day my uncle
said that I should have my turn, and we went out
shooting. But I was so stiff that I could hardly get
over a hedge, and was subjected to a great deal of chaff
from the seasoned Nimrods.

It was in the Easter holidays of my last year at
Oxford that I first went to Wildernesse, a place which
has been to me since a second home. At that time it was
tenanted by Sir Charles Mills, afterwards Lord Hilling-
don. The place was made about the middle of the
eighteenth century by the first Lord Camden, who
must have been an accomplished landscape gardener, as
nothing could be more successful than the arrangement

1865-69] WILDERNESSE 91

of the woods and gardens. Indeed, if there were any
water in the landscape, it would be one of the most
beautiful parks in England. The great feature of the
place are the avenues of beech, lime and Spanish
chestnut. These were in their prime when I first
knew them, and I have paced them many a time since
under the sun or stars.

I will finish up my Oxford Chapter by relating an
incident of my Oxford time, to which I cannot put an
exact date. I happened one Sunday to attend the
morning service at St. Mary's, where the celebrated
J. W. Burgon, afterwards Dean of Chichester, was
then Vicar. Apparently some of the congregation
had started a practice of leaving before the sermon,
for as soon as prayers were over Burgon made an
appeal for persons to remain in their places till the
end of the service. One of the most conspicuous
tradesmen in Oxford occupied a prominent pew, and
no sooner had Burgon begun his appeal than he
quitted his seat with considerable stir, and, accom-
panied by a fashionably-dressed family, walked slowly
down the aisle towards the door. Burgon, who did
not even turn his head, without a moment's pause
continued in his high, thin tones, " Of course, I do
not mean what I have said to apply to college servants
whose duties naturally take them away at this time."
The faces of the delinquents as they passed out under
the eyes of the whole congregation were a study not
readily forgotten by an observer of human nature.

CHAPTER VI
1870

Rome in 1870 — Storey's Studio — Funeral of Grand Duke of Tuscany
— George Lane-Fox — Converts — Social Life — Balls at the Sala
Dant6 — Italian ditto — Bal Masqu6 — Carnival — Art — Football —
Baths of Caracalla — The Pantheon — An American Tourist —
Ticket-Taking — Marionettes — My Professor — Dinner at English
Embassy — Jockey Club — Senate— Brigands — Naples — Pompeii
—Ascent of Vesuvius — Bologna — Milan — Princess Margharita —
Venice — Protestantism in Italy — Vienna — English Embassy —
The Little Archduchess— The Bear-cubs— Queen's Birthday —
The Races.

ON January i5th I left London for Rome. I shall
tell the story of the tour mainly by extracts from a
journal, avoiding as far as possible what is to be found
in the guide books, and attempting to continue the
narrative of my own life and interests, even though
related in the somewhat flippant style of the under-
graduate.

After about a week's travelling I got to Genoa,
whence I left for Rome on the following day. There
I joined my cousin, Edward Liddell, who had rooms
at the Hotel de Londres with Clerk-Jervoise, acting
charg6 d'affaires in the absence of Lord Odo Russell.

It was not a bad time for visiting the city of the
Popes, if one wished to have a last glance at her
ancient glories. The temporal power still existed,
and all that winter the town was the seat of an
Ecumenical Council, numbers of bishops and prelates
from all parts of the world being assembled, a last
flicker of the old pomps and ceremonies before the
splendour of the Papacy died out for ever.

1 870] STOREY'S STUDIO 93

"Jan. 28. What first strikes one is the oddity of,
while driving about in a shooting jacket in a hackney
cab, seeing written up on the corner of a dirty lane,
' Via Antonia/ or some such classical title. Secondly,
the apparent total absence of the ' Seven Hills ' and
the Capitol.

"Jan. 29. Entering the abode of the famous sculptor
Story, we found him and ten or a dozen people
standing round a young lady in clay on a pedestal
which a workman slowly turned round. The subject
was Salome resting after her dance before Herod.
She had just seated herself, had thrown one arm over
the back of the chair, and crossed her legs in a bold
attitude. Her feet and hands were beautiful, and the
figure in clay so lifelike that one felt quite apprehen-
sive lest she should take it into her head to get up, in
which case her bournous must have fallen off. Her
face was Egyptian, like all the female faces in the
studio, except Sappho, who was vapid. In other parts
of the building workmen were copying busts into the
marble, in various stages of completion ; most of them
had the face cut put and the hair in rough, looking like
so many judges in big wigs.

11 Jan. 31. After table d'hote we rushed out to see the
funeral of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the only royal
funeral there has been since the death of James III. of
England, as they call him. The affair, like all shows
of the R. C.'s, was very dramatic, soldiers in abund-
ance, 6,000 of the best Papal troops in Rome marching
to a mournful air with torches and reversed arms.
The coffin was in a carriage of the Popes with two or
three priests squeezed into the same vehicle. The
glare of the torches was as effective to the sight as the
mournful and monotonous sounds of the Zouaves'
bugles to the ear. These Zouaves are talked about a
great deal, but seem rather a mixed regiment. In
their every-day leather gaiters, laced up tight, some
look almost like cripples with strengtheners on their
legs, being, for the most part, small and badly-made
men. They are recruited from every nation under
heaven, and swarm with English and Irish. Many of
the privates are supposed to be gentlemen, have a
club, and are much made of by the English Romanists.
The natives are said to dislike these cosmopolitan

94 GEORGE LANE-FOX [VI.

troops, and in the country they are in danger of being
mobbed.

" Feb. i . Got up early to hear the High Mass over the
late Duke of Tuscany at Santa Apostoli. We found the
coffin in the middle of the church surrounded by large
pink wax candles in colossal candlesticks. These
again were encompassed by the Swiss Guard in a
rather theatrical costume, carrying halberts. After
waiting for some time a papal mitre appeared over the
heads of the soldiers. This mounted on to a raised
chair, when it was removed, and a head disclosed like
a silver pill in a white skull cap, that of Pio Nono
himself. After a time he came down the aisle and sat
on a raised chair close to us. I could see him splendidly,
and a grand-looking old chap he was. The cardinals
took off his mitre, and he began to intone the mass
in a fine deep voice, quavering rather sometimes. He
then rose and walked twice round the coffin, burning
incense and sprinkling holy water. After the cere-
mony we saw him drive off so exhausted that he could
not salute in return for the cheers of the people, but
lay back in his carriage."

About this time there had been a good many
conversions to Roman Catholicism among the English
upper classes. One of the first of these was my
cousin, George Lane-Fox, whose career was rather a
remarkable one. He was captain of the boats at Eton,
and after passing through Oxford, was for some years
one of the smartest young men in London. He then
joined the Cowley Fathers, a society near Oxford,
where he was when I was at college. This soon
ended in his beginning his training for the priesthood
at Rome. After a time the authorities decided that
his vocation lay more in the world, and he returned to
ordinary life. Many years afterwards he took to
politics, and after working with good effect in the
cause of the Conservative party at Torquay, he
was made Vice-Chancellor of the Primrose League, a

1870] SOCIETY IN ROME 95

post which he still fills with great success. I have
seldom heard an Englishman who had such a power
of fluent speech. He had also a gift for collecting
stories, which he applied with much skill as illustra-
tions of political principles. These powers made him
an admirable platform speaker, and I have known a
village audience clamour for him in preference to a
well-known party orator.

A large section of the English society in Rome this
winter was composed of persons who like G. Lane-
Fox had joined the Church of Rome, or were tending
in that direction. Of this society the following passage
from my diary will give a glimpse.

" To a drum at the S , where was Monsignor

Capel, the fashionable preacher and ' verter.' He was
a good-looking man, with a soft manner, but rather a
restless, nervous deportment. Manning was also
there, a fine-looking old chap, but with uneasy eyes.
He was very civil — ' great friend of your father's ' —
'you have the Liddell colouring/ etc. On his depar-
ture much fluttering and kissing of his hands from
the young lady flock. The room was full of bishops,
priests and deacons of the R. C. persuasion ; among
them a Father Hecker, an American, and a great gun.
One fair convert wanted me to take a medal and repeat
a Latin pater daily, with a view of obtaining the same
results as had lately happened in the case of the
Jew ' Ratisbonne.' This man had been a ' Unitarian
and a Rationalist ' and ' believed in a First Cause,' but
after a week of the medal was converted."

Besides these serious entertainments there was a
lighter side to our social life, viz., frequent balls given
by the English and Americans, which mainly took
place upon a crumb-cloth stretched upon a stone floor
at the "Sala Dante." Owing to the number of
Americans, the chief feature at these " hops " was the
cotillon, or " German," as they called it, which usually

96 SOCIETY IN ROME [VI.

began about 12 o'clock, when a flood of chairs was
poured in through a window, and there was a great
scramble to get places in the front row. Some of the
figures in this dance were most elaborate, a standing
supply of machinery being kept at the Sala At these
balls I first made the acquaintance of the all-conquering
American girl, who was then beginning her invasion
of Europe. The following extract describes my first
encounter with one of them :

" Off to a ball given by some Americans of the name

of M , whose ballroom was said to be distinguished

by the possession of the only wooden floor in Italy.
When we arrived the cloakroom and the reception-
room were lined with males, but not a lady was to be

seen. Unfortunate Miss M was at her wits' end,

but all she could do was to sacrifice herself by being
continually led in to tea, till she must have been filled
to the eyes. I was introduced to a Yankee girl, who,
after we had taken one turn, said, ' I should like you
to take me to the dressing-room.' Thinking this odd,
I asked the cause. ' I guess,' said she, ' I have got my
out-door shoes on.' With these words she pulled up
her frock and displayed two enormous red felt slippers
over her satin shoes. Accordingly I was taking her
to the cloakroom, but becoming impatient, she sat
down on a chair and kicked them off."

Before leaving England I had been armed with
several letters of introduction by my aunt, Lady
Bloomfield, which procured me invitations to a more
aristocratic society than was to be met with at the
Sala Dante. Some of these potentates were civil to
me and did their best to introduce me to their com-
patriots. But as I was shy and gauche and did not
speak the language, the native entertainments were
always rather a penance.

" To an Italian dance at Princess Teano's. There
had been a child's fancy ball in the early ,'part of the

A BAL MASQU£ 97

evening, and all the little creatures were at their tea
when we arrived. There were post-boys in top-boots
up to their thighs, about a foot long when taken off,
with large horns wound round their tiny bodies, on
which they made most unpleasant noises from time
to time when one least expected it; small powdered
shepherdesses, soldiers, postmen, Zouaves, and a
marvellous Highlander in a scarlet waistcoat. The
coolness of these little ladies and gentlemen and their
grown-up ways were very amusing, exact miniatures
of their papas and mammas. After tea they started
another valse, circling with the greatest solemnity,
till one of the post-boys got involved in his spurs, and
drew down upon his little person a cairn of High-
landers, shepherdesses, and soldiers, which almost
squeezed him flat, horn and all."

At the time of the Carnival an attempt was made on
one occasion to fuse the native and tourist societies I
have described. A bal masque was advertised, under
the special patronage of the Pope, in aid of the funds
of some religious charity. All the most exclusive
ladies in Rome were on the committee, and in order
to overcome the distrust of the ordinary British
mother for a bal masque, it was given out that the
most scrupulous care was to be taken in issuing
tickets. Everything went well, and all the young
damsels with particular mammas were rejoicing in the
chance of being allowed for once to disport themselves
in masks and dominoes. The entertainment was
given in a huge hall at the Barberini Palace, masks
and dominoes appeared in plenty, and people were
beginning to look forward to supper, for in order to
swell the funds extra tickets were necessary for that
meal. All of a sudden, however, a kind of chill came
down on the expectant throng. Many of the sterner
mothers who had been suspicious all along, began to
get uneasy, and set about gathering in their flocks.
L.L. H

98 THE CARNIVAL [VI.

In a short time, after hastily removing their masks
and forcing their daughters to do the same they were
seen thronging in crowds towards the staircase. By
this time the cause of the disturbance had become
obvious. Two little masked figures, got up as pages
in short jerkins and coloured tights were swaggering
about the room arm in arm, occasionally firing off
Italian chaff. It afterwards transpired that some
young Italians, with malicious intent, had contrived to
elude the Papal police, and had imported two actresses
from Florence, managing to get invitations for them
under false names. When the hall was well filled
with respectable British families, these damsels were
let loose. The joke, though a cruel one, was very
effective, as the advent of these undesirable aliens
very shortly cleared the room of all but gentlemen,
and they not caring to stay without the other sex,
hardly any supper tickets were sold and the whole
entertainment collapsed.

I have mentioned the Carnival, and will continue
my narrative by some extracts from my diary
describing some of the doings during that festival.

" About five, to the S. 's lodgings in the Corso

to look at the Carnival. The room was in a horrid
mess ; all the carpet white with lime from the confetti.
In the balcony were various young Amazons hurling
away hammer and tongs from troughs suspended on
the balustrade. The procedure for a youth who goes
in for the thing is to don clothes like a baker's, and
then to parade the streets in a wire mask, bearing a
brown Holland bag of confetti and various bouquets.
He being pelted by young damsels of his acquaintance,
returns the fire in kind, or, if he thinks them worth it,

with a bouquet. Miss F. , being an R.C., and fair

withal, attracted a perfect flower garden, and the
balcony soon bloomed like a Duke's hot-house. I
went out under fire for a while, but it was poor sport,

1 870] THE CARNIVAL 99

the confetti being messy missiles, which admit of no
skill or force in their propulsion, and at the same time
sting uncommonly in the face.

"Went down to the corner of the Via Condottieri
to look at the Carnival. This was the last day, and
the Corso was thronged with enthusiasts in every
stage of dusty misery. The Government in a vain
effort to compensate for the dulness of the festival,
had allowed masks since Sunday, and these and fancy
dresses were tolerably abundant. Some of the masks
represented great sores, scalds, burns and leprous
diseases ; and the wearers rushed about uttering
horrid cries. A large car, bearing a huge Neptune,
and satellites with gaping fish heads, paraded the
street, drawing a hot fire. In a balcony opposite us
was a little lady in blue, who amused us greatly.
She flung confetti incessantly without once flagging,
and with an expression of intense amusement on her
pretty face, rushing about to catch the bouquets that
were thrown to her, and laughing and jabbering — a
perfect incarnation of the Carnival. Three Britishers
in another balcony nigh at hand were a strange
contrast, shovelling out tons of confetti in tin trowels
without changing a muscle of their countenances.

"At 11.30 went to the bal masque at the Opera.
The whole pit and stage are boarded over, and the
shopkeepers of Rome, their wives and daughters,
promenade about to the strains of music. The
'upper-crust' take boxes, and the gentlemen in
evening dress and their ladies in masks and dominoes
descend from time to time into the throng. There
were a good many fancy dresses, harlequins, fools,
and Highlanders. The latter attire is rather a
favourite one, and is wonderful to behold. The
garments are mostly coloured in large red and black
squares, the lower limbs are clad in tight drawers,
with loose leggings of red and black, dependent from
the knees, while over all is a marvellous bonnet,
generally bound with yellow. There was an incessant
jabber on all sides, and great chaflf seemed to be going
on between the natives.'

I have hitherto said little of the more serious part
of my life at Rome, I mean that part of it which was

H 2

ioo ART [VI.

related to the art treasures and the classical and
mediaeval remains.

I had always been very susceptible to all impressions
coming through the eyesight, and had a fondness for
the classics, and a tolerable smattering of ancient
history. It may, therefore, be easily imagined with
what enthusiasm I found myself in a place which
combines, perhaps, more objects of interest in art and
history than any other in the world ; and where, as
Gray says, you see not with the eye of the body only,
but with the eye of the mind.

From the moment of my arrival I began a course of
sightseeing with my cousins and various parties of
friends, and made and listened to all the usual
speeches about S. Peter's and the Colosseum, which
pass between intelligent tourists. It was not, how-
ever, till the arrival of my friend Franco Charteris,
who joined us at the Hotel de Londres, that an
enthusiasm for Art, and especially for painting, was
aroused in me, which was to be an abiding interest
for the rest of my life. As the reader will remember,
I had always been fond of drawing, and I had been
brought up in old-fashioned artistic tastes to admire
Salvator, Carlo Dolce, and water-colour sketches
with a grey distance and a brown foreground — a
species of art which the whirligig of time seems
bringing again into fashion. But I had never been to
the National Gallery, and had never even heard of
Botticelli. Charteris, besides having an excellent eye
for anything good, had lived among his father's
pictures, and brought to the galleries a love of the
old Italian Masters, with which he soon inspired me.
An Oxford friend, to whom I shall ever be indebted,
had lent me Layard's " Kugler," upon which I set to

1870] BATHS OF CARACALLA 101

work, getting from the book much help in forming my
taste, and also an idea of the characteristics of each
school and their relations to each other, which greatly
increased the interest of the pictures themselves.

I have now given the reader a sufficient account of
our life at Rome, tourist and social, during our six
weeks' sojourn. I will conclude by a few extracts
from the Diary which do not come under any particular
heading.

" Played in a game of Eton football in the gardens
of the Borghese Villa. Under what strange circum-
stances was this game played, which bears such
different associations. A motley crew of about fifteen
at first, which a few more afterwards joined, in every
costume conceivable, from a Neapolitan fisher cap to
an Eton house-shirt. Many of the fair sex came to
patronise the sport, and strangers might be seen
ransacking their guide-books for an explanation. The
arena was an oblong amphitheatre of large extent,
surrounded by steps. The rules were cosmopolitan,
being confined to efforts to thrusting the ball, by hook
or by crook, through the goal posts.

" To the Baths of Caracalla. The piles of masonry
covered with shrubs and plants are more like
' tumbled fragments of the hills ' than any work of
man's. The ruins of Rome are not, as one expected,
blocks of stone, so much as of brick, or rather of
rubble cemented together in huge masses, the corners
of which are rounded by age and weather, and which
strew the floors of the vast halls just as they fell from
the ijoofs and walls, when the mediaevals took away
the columns for churches or palaces. We were much
amused by an officer of the Antibes Legion who came
and asked us, 'which was the Bath of Caracalla.'
On our pointing to some acres of ruins, he was much
puzzled, and kept reiterating plaintively, 'Mais ou est
done le bain de Caracalle ? ' A small chamber paved
with mosaic seemed more to correspond with his idea
of the Emperor's tub. But he could not get over the
difficulty tnat there was no water in it.

" Let me say that next to S. Peter's there is no place

102 AN AMERICAN TOURIST [VI.

in Rome so impressive as the Pantheon. The whole
of the building, with the exception, of course, of the
fittings, is Pagan ; its peculiar feature being the large
opening in the dome. The effect of looking up
through this eye into the 'great temple not made
with hands ' is exceedingly impressive and solemn.

" Mr. and Mrs. R. and son are Americans at our

hotel. R. pere sometimes talks to me at breakfast.
His questions about the price of land per acre in St.
John's Wood, arising from my telling him of the
purchase of Lords' by the Marylebone Club, exposed
in me a lamentable ignorance of the price of land in
London. Finding this, he begged me in a pitying
way to give him some notion of what 75 feet of
frontage would cost in Pall Mall, as if such information
must be at the fingers' ends of the most ignorant, and
when I failed lamentably, he triumphantly told me
how many million dollars 15 feet would cost in Broad-
way. R. is doubtless a good man of business, but he
has the defects of his qualities, as he tells me that,
after booking himself for dinner at table d'hote, he
suffers the anxiety of a person who has entered into a
contract. His mind is very analytic. For instance,
he describes the voyage from America as made up of
' an element of tedium, an element of danger, and an
element of expense.' He likes London as well as any
town he knows. ' I like your damp climate, I like your
theatres, your living, your fogs, your old, smoky
streets, your parks and your hansom cabs. I like my
own country, but I would as soon live in London as
anywhere.'

" R. takes the itinerary at the end of Murray for
persons who can only spend three weeks in Rome,
and works off two days 01 it per diem, carrying a brown
plaid and two or three guide-books. We met him one
day in the Vatican with a large account book in which
he was marking the values of the statues."

On March 4th, Charteris and I left Rome, and after
a few days at Perugia and Assisi went on to Florence,
where we took up our quarters at the Hotel de Ville.
Charteris had been suffering for some days from bad
headaches, and when we got to our journey's end took

1870] MARIONETTES 103

to his bed with an attack of malaria. I will give one
or two notes from the diary relating to this period.

"Ticket-taking in Italy is the most intolerable
nuisance. The officials are the slowest of the slow.
As to the takers, directly an Italian comes in sight of a
ticket office, even if it is naif an hour before the starting
of the train, he goes wild with excitement, and shouts
and pushes, however many persons are before him.
Thus the impassive Britisher is inevitably cut out, and
even when he arrives at the counter many dirty brown
hands, flourishing dirty white notes, come stealing
under his arms and over his shoulders, and his ears
are deafened by volleys of the names of small Italian
towns.

" My ardour in viewing Thrasimene was rather
damped by an American fellow-passenger calling it 4 a
remarkably fine piece of water, ' so I passed it in
silence."

" We were attracted by the word ' marionettes, '
and strolled into a room filled with people of the
lower class, all expectant. There was a small stage, in
front of which was an orchestra composed of soldiers
and others. The performance snortly began, and
though we could not understand a word, it was
decidedly interesting. The puppets were all
suspended by their heads, and gesticulated with their
hands exactly like the natives. The most absurd were
a smart young lady and a swell in tight trousers. My
attention was divided between the marionettes and a
little lass sitting near me, whose face was most attrac-
tive, so completely was her soul in her eyes, which
were riveted on the dolls, while her tightly clasped
hands showed the intensity of her interest.

" A professor of the Italian tongue came for an hour.
His name is Barbanera, and his English a perpetual
joy. He gives me short English sentences to turn
into Italian. Of one of these he is evidently very proud,
repeating it every day, viz., ' When I shall have con-
sidered my affairs, I shall go to Boboli's gardens, and
take a walk wiz the beeootifoal young lay-dee.' The
gusto with which he rolls out the last three words
and the waggish leer which lights up his wizened old
face are indescribable.

io4 THE JOCKEY CLUB [VI.

"To dinner at the British Embassy. The party

consisted of Sir and Lady and two secretaries.

Lady was very pretty, tnough she looked ill, as she

has only just recovered from one of these Italian fevers.
She was dressed in a picturesque gown covered with
coins, and wore her hair in a long pigtail a la
Marguerite. Her conversation was very amusing, de-
livered in a quaint broken English. The chief secretary
told some absurd stories about the returns
furnished to him by the officials here and at Naples,
which makes one rather sceptical as to the modern
statistical philosophy.

"At 6. 30 to dinner at the Jockey Club. There was
a long table surrounded by Italians of various tints of
yellow and brown, and many adaptations of the Victor
Emmanuel coiffure. At the head of the table was an
old swell of seventy, who was said to have been the
handsomest man in Europe in his day, though I should
not have given him so hign a rating. A gloomy-looking
person sat next to me, and there was a blank chair on
the other side, so I did not get much talk. The dinner
was good, and you would not know the vin du pays to
be the same stuff as is served at the hotels. After
dinner they handed round candles decorated with large
branches of wire, the use of which I was at a loss to
conjecture. Presently, however, cigars were brought
in, which the guests seized and laid along these
branches, with one end in the flame, the thing taking
about five minutes to light, so hard and woody was it.

To-day I went to the Senate, which is held in a fine
hall, the roof decorated with a symbolic representation
of Italia, and the walls with a hideous picture of the
King. At the further end of the room was a raised
platform supporting a chair, on which was a yellow-
faced President. Around him were the Ministers
writing and reading the newspapers. In the body of
the hall a snuffy old senator was making a report, to
which no one even pretended to listen, except the
President. Waiters darted about, refreshing the
senators with sugar and water. After a while the
reader ceased, and the senators all got up and stood in
knots conversing with violent gesticulations. But as
far as I could see nothing happened till the President
rang his bell and the reading began again.

1870] BRIGANDS 105

"There is a large influx of Americans at table
dhote from a United States man-of-war at Leghorn.
One of them gave us his views on Rome and Florence
in a loud voice. ' He would not go to Rome, that city
of dead men's bones, for 1,000 dollars. But if in
Florence a man did not recover his health, he should
advise him to say 'good-bye' to his friends, go to the
swamps at once, and get it over.'

"A long conversation with the Professor. He is a
man of liberal mind, and though a Catholic, hates the
Pope and the priests. The latter, according to him,
care for nothing but money. Brigands, he admits,
are a disgrace to Italy, but he says they are maintained
by the Pope and the King of Naples. Every brigand
carries a Madonna in his hat, to whom he prays before
the commission of any crime, and when they kill or
capture anyone, they consider they are doing a good
action in the cause of God, and His Viceroy on earth.
In Tuscany there are no brigands, as the landlords
there are humane, and only exact half the fruits of the
harvest from the tenants, who, consequently, have
enough to live on, whereas in Naples they squeeze
them to absolute starvation. When a family is on
the verge of dying of hunger, down come the brigands
and give them food. Hence, when the soldiers arrive
and say, ' 'Ave you seen de brigand ? ' they say, ' No
brigand here.'

" Pisa. While I was looking at the frescoes in the
Campo Santo, a British family came up, and the father
asked me if I found the guide-book of much use for
the pictures. ' Decidedly so,' I answered. ' Oh,' said
he in rather a patronising way, ' We have made them
all put ourselves. That one, of course, is Christ
stilling the storm at sea.' ' No, sir/ I replied humbly,
' that is S. Dominic conveying the relics of S. Buffo
from Jerusalem to Pisa.' At which he passed on."

At the end of March, as Charteris was making good
progress, I left him and went to Naples.

The spring had been a very bad one in Italy. We
had heard of men clearing away the snow from the
streets of Bologna on March 28th, and even in Naples

io6 VESUVIUS [VI.

it was very cold and wintry. However, in spite of
the weather, I greatly enjoyed myself, finding in the
museum more objects of interest than in any one
collection I had yet visited. The classical drawings
were quite a revelation to me, for in all of them,
however rough, from a bunny pawing some grapes to
the three Graces, there was a lack of that stiffness
seen in second-rate modern art, and a graceful life and
motion everywhere noticeable.

After doing all the sights of Naples, I visited
Pompeii, and I shall never forget the strange feeling
which comes over the mind when standing in the
street of that town at seeing the ruts made in the
pavement by the Roman vehicles 1,800 years ago. I
do not think I remember any place in my travels
which interested me more than Pompeii, but as it is
familiar to everyone, I shall say no more about it, but
pass on to an ascent of Vesuvius, which I made in
company with two young Englishmen called Martin.
I well remember how the first sight of the lava
impressed me, rising in a brown mass on each side
of the path, and twisted into the strangest shapes. It
reminded me of the ideas I had formed of a plague
pit, from reading "Old St. Paul's." One could have
fancied it a seething mass of giant carcasses, with
trunks and limbs twisted together in the confusion of
decay. Having reached the foot of the cone, which
was smoking like a great bonfire, we got off the horses
which had hitherto carried us, and ascended a steep
path covered with small fragments of lava most fatal
to shoe leather. At last we stood on the edge of the
crater, and looked into an abyss filled with steam,
down which, when the wind lifted the vapour, it was
possible occasionally to see about thirty feet. The

1870] BOLOGNA 107

wind and cold were such that we soon had to retire.
The rest of the journey is thus described in a letter
home : —

" The descent from here to the bottom of the cone
was the greatest sport I have had for a long time.
Your path lies through small hollows filled with
cinders and dust, and is at the same time very steep.
You just let yourself go, the ashes slipping with your
feet, so that you clear from twelve to fourteen feet at
each bound. The rapid motion is most exhilarating,
and at the same time there is the excitement of steering
clear of the many reefs of lava jutting out of the ashes.
So we all voteu that it was worth while coming to
Naples merely to go down Vesuvius."

After about ten days at Naples, I went back to
Florence, where I found Charteris much better for
his quinine treatment, and we resumed our pursuit
of art, being accompanied at times by C. A. Fyffe, a
Balliol man, who had turned up there.

A few days after this time I made an expedition with
Fyffe to Siena, a place which I thought singularly
attractive from a sort of atmosphere of charm, which
I have not quite matched before or since. Possibly
a good deal was due to the beauty of the early spring
days in Italy.

Spending a week at Siena we returned to Florence,
and then went on to Bologna. The plunge from the
Florentines to the Caracci was a sudden one, and I
find, on looking at my journal, that we were very
critical of the later school. I shall not, however,
trouble the reader with our theories, but will relate
the following incident from real life which took place
on the journey from Parma to Verona : —

" While waiting for the train, some Americans came
into the pound into which passengers are shut. Enter
to them the porter of the hotel seeking a tip. One of

io8 MILAN [VI.

the Yankees replied, as usual, in our own tongue :
1 Porterage paid in the account.' His friend, more
prompt, went up to the guardian of the ' pound ' and
said, ' Questo homo non ha billietty,' which masterly
stroke routed the porter instanter." "

We arrived at Milan on April 23rd, and had a good
time there, as the weather was beautiful, and Charteris,
being now practically recovered, we were able to do
as much sight-seeing as we wished. Indeed, for the
first few days we seem to have suffered from an artistic
surfeit, brought on by the rich feasts of Florence being
followed by the indigestible fare offered by the
"Naturalist!." From this melancholy condition we
were eventually restored by the genius of Leonardo,
as shown in the " Cenacolo " and the drawings in the
Ambrosian Library. Our impression of the former work
was that, on the whole it must have been, when new,
the finest picture ever painted, combining in a wonder-
ful degree the highest qualities of unity, simplicity,
and animation.

The presence of a French company enabled us to
patronise the theatre with some hopes of under-
standing the piece, which was not the case in most
Italian towns. Besides enjoying the drama, we both
lost our hearts to the Princess Margherita, now the
ex-Queen of Italy, who frequented a box opposite
to us.

"The Principessa was at the theatre looking very
pretty and espiegle. It was great fun to watch her
dancing about in the box between the acts and gesti-
culating before the looking-glass. She apparently had,
in conjunction with a large paternal Count in waiting,
some joke against her lady, which caused tremendous
skippmgs and gesticulations, and at one time, when
some great secret had to be whispered, she flung her
arm almost round the Count's neck, without causing

1 870] PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY 109

any surprise in the recipient of this favour or in the
audience."

On April 2pth we went to the lakes, and after a few
days there on to Verona, where Charteris left me, to
my great sorrow, on his way home, and I accompanied
Mrs. Gunning and my cousin, Victoria Liddell, with
whom we had fallen in at Verona, to Venice. As may
be supposed, I was greatly interested and impressed
on arriving at this ancient city, so famous in story, and
so different from any other town in the world.

But I shall not inflict any rhapsodies as to Venice
on my readers, who have doubtless, most of them,
gone through the same experience, but will content
myself with one extract on a more mundane subject : —

"Went to the English Church. The sermon, or
rather lecture, was preached by an American, and was
uncommonly interesting. The speaker had been sent
by the American Church to investigate the state of
feeling in Italy as to Protestantism, with a view to the
Transatlantic Church giving help if any was needed.
He gave a curious description of the state of things in
Italy at present. Religion and patriotism were now,
he said, in direct opposition to each other, as the only
form of Christianity known to the majority of the
nation was Romanism, which was hostile to a united
Italy, in which all the aspirations of the Italians are
centred. Hence it is a case of no Christianity at all
with most of them, as they find such a religion incom-
patible with their most cherished hopes. The great
struggle of the earnest Christians among them is to
reconcile the two hostile elements by modifying the
existing faith. All help directly from without was
hopeless, as the excessive pride of the natives would
only follow a lead that was Italian, and even within
combination was difficult, as those holding liberal ideas
were extremely reserved, looking with distrust on all
advances. However, by the medium of a certain paper
in Florence called the Examinatore, the commencement
of an organisation had been formed. The history of the

no VIENNA [VI.

paper was one of great struggles. A very capable man
had started it, and kept it going with great difficulty
till his death. His place could not be supplied, so his
eldest son took it on, and his eyesight failing, the
next brother, who being compelled to abandon it
by professional duties, a third brother took his post,
and has kept the paper afloat with good results."

From Venice I went by Trieste to Vienna, where I was
to stay at the Embassy with my uncle, Lord Bloomfield.
He and my cousin, Mrs. Lytton (now the Dowager
Lady Lytton), met me at the station, accompanied by
a magnificent being in uniform, called a Leib-jager,
who got my luggage in the twinkling of an eye. I
still remember how delightful this welcome was after
some months of hotel omnibuses, and am grateful for
the kind thought which suggested it.

And now began a very different life from the wan-
dering one I had been leading for the last six months,
a life of black coat and tall hat, of dinners and society.

I do not know that there is any more enjoyable form
of existence than living in a friendly English home in
a foreign country. Within there is the comfort and
repose that comes from the familiar ordering of every-
day things, a congenial companionship and converse,
while without and around is the bright foreign setting
with all its stimulus and novelty. My uncle, Lord
Bloomfield, was a very kindly person, with the
polished manners of the old school ; my aunt was a
good deal younger, and though somewhat of a malade
imaginaire, was a clever, agreeable woman, well versed
in the society of foreign capitals. Robert Lytton, who
had married my cousin, Edith Villiers, was first Secre-
tary of the Legation ; my cousin, W. Barrington, was
an attache. I think that the Lyttons left for England
just after I arrived, as I do not recall seeing them,

1870] THE BEAR CUBS in

except on the first day of my visit. The other
members of the Embassy staff whom I remember
were a Mr. St. John, Colonel Conolly, and a Mr.
Smythe, all of whom wrere very kind and civil.

The following extracts from my diary will give some
glimpses of my life at Vienna.

" Started for SchOnbrunn, where some of us went

to call on a Miss T , an English lady, who is

governess to the little Archduchess. The ante-chamber
of her apartment is the playroom of the little girl,
who is about two years old. There were dolls' houses
filled with miniature furniture, and small models of
men and women seated at table therein, or stiffly dis-
posed on sofas, with their legs in most uncomfortable,
not to say indelicate, attitudes. Before the house, on
the floor, were two toy bears and a nice little red
damask arm-chair. Such are the surroundings of
young Queens!

" In the Embassy stable-yard live two little bear
cubs brought back by St. John, one of the attaches,
from a hunting expedition. They are funny, plump
little creatures, with huge heads and stiff, bolster-like
legs. It is great sport to watch them with a black
poodle, who is their neighbour. They try to play
with him, but the dog doesn't see it, being rather
frightened at their uncouth gestures. While we were
at dinner, one of them climbed up into a window and
stood there snarling, and defying all the efforts of the
servants to get him down."

At subsequent dates I find it recorded :

" The bears have so increased in size and ferocity
that they weigh like a nightmare on St. John, who
don't know what on earth to do with them, but expects
them daily to rise up and rend him. Bears being at a
discount here, no zoological societies want them ; and
bear's grease is unknown.

" At last it occurred to him that he should offer them
to the Empress, (who is very gracious to all English-
men), for her collection of animals at Schonbrunn.
The offer was accepted, and I remember, early one

ii2 THE QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY [VI.

morning, on going to the station, bound for some
expedition, seeing St. John in evening clothes and a
white tie being dragged up and down the platform by
his unruly charges, whom he was ordered to present
in person to Her Majesty. We heard that his
reception was most favourable.

" There was a large dinner to-night for the Queen's
birthday. The staircase was lined with splendid
menials, through whom I repaired to the large hall,
which was filled with cloth of gold, variously disposed
on the human form, much on the great, less on the
lower officials. There was the gallant Austrian
warrior, poker-backed, throttle-stocked, with blanket
tunic and light-blue lower man. Hungarians also in
fur great-coats and top-boots. A satire, surely, on
uniform is a great-coat at dinner with the thermometer
at 80, even though the coat be hung on your back.
After considerable waiting, we paced into the dining-
room to the strains of slow music. The Austrians all
edge up together, so as to prevent one another taking
the precedence, except in the case of undoubted
grandees. One man had refused this morning, as he
thought another was coming who would be above
him, but on being told that his rival could not appear,
he withdrew his refusal at once. However, far the
most brilliant and majestic of all was my friend the
1 Leib-jager,' who handed dishes blazing like a meteor.
The English butler quite kept up the tradition of
Castlereagh at the Conference. Though outwardly
adorned only by black tights and swallow-tail coat,
his look would have quelled any two Prime Ministers.
The heat was fearful, and I think many of the grandees
must have envied the American Minister and myself,
who were the only persons comfortably dressed.
These torments were also enhanced by the delay in
serving out the champagne, which was kept for the
Queen's health, proposed just before the asparagus.
This was accompanied by a few bars of ' God save the
Queen,' a song of Sion in a strange land, which raised
our loyalty, hitherto depressed by the Embassy
portrait of Her Majesty, which hung over the
Ambassador's head. St. John says that they are
served out to all the Embassies by the Office of
Works. The one in China when he was there was

1 870] VIENNA RACES 113

greatly admired by the Chinese, who asked if it was
his Goddess, and on learning that it was his sovereign,
could not understand why her neck was uncovered.

" We all went to the Vienna races. These take place
in the Prater, where there is a grand stand of the
usual type, with partitions for Royalty. There was a
large sprinkling of fashionable Vienna, but no crowd
at all, or any representation of the lower orders, except
the stable boys. Racing in Austria is not a pursuit
that creates general enthusiasm, but society goes in
for it, as 'Anglomania' is just now prevalent. The
English names of the horses and the slang English
racing terms appearing in the German land were
amusing. There was one animal called ' All my eye,'
and another ' Lady Mordaunt.' The last-named was
especially popular, and while she was running you
heard cries of ' Ladee Mordaunt ' in all varieties of
pronunciation. The actual racing was very dull, one
horse being always a long way the favourite, and
going away from the others immediately at the start.
In the Kaiser's pagoda were the Empress and the
Queen of Naples. I borrowed a glass and went down
into the ring to inspect these celebrated beauties.
Both very pink and white, the Empress with lovely
eyes and hair, but a somewhat expressionless face.
The Queen of Naples was a most determined-looking
lady, with a broad, massive chin. They were draped
in white jackets and had green parasols."

L.L.

CHAPTER VII
1870—1876

First London Ball — Lady Elcho — Old Lord Wemyss — Lord Elcbo —
Dancing Lessons — Death of F. Charteris — Franco- Prussian
War — Stobhall — Gordon Castle — Drumlanrig — A. B. Dixon's
Chambers — Thomas Carlyle — Barons Martin and Bramwell —
My Duties as Marshal — Visit to John Day — The Western
Circuit — Adventure on the Dart — Bodmin — Bristol — Go
Marshal on Oxford Circuit— Quain and Grove, JJ. — To Oxford
by Water — The Oxford Circuit — Dresden — Bowen's Chambers —
The Tichborne Case — Eslington — Durham Sessions — My First
Brief— R. G. Williams — My First Assizes — Life at the Bar —
Visits on Circuit — Unfitness for the Law — Dockers — First
Important Case— Holly Grove — Life in London — Devilling—-
Reporting for The Times — Stobhall — My Shooting — Dresden
— Division of the Circuit — Grand Court— Constance Lawley —
My Drawing — Tennyson.

AT the end of May I left my kind hosts at the
Englischer Botschaft, and after a few days in Paris
arrived in London, where a newly-acquired beard was
the subject of much criticism on the part of my sisters.
The very first night of my arrival my father insisted,
much to my disgust, on my going to a ball at Montagu
House, where he introduced me to many of his
numerous friends. Among these were Lady Elcho
and her daughter Evelyn, who was one of the beauties
of the season. Her mother was still very handsome,
pale, with heavy dark hair, but had a stateliness of
manner which was somewhat alarming to a raw
youth. These are the only two figures which stand
out plainly to me in recalling my first evening in
London society, and it is fitting that they should do
so, as Lady Elcho afterwards was a second mother to

1870-76] LADY ELCHO 115

me, and her daughter and I have been close friends
through life. Lady Elcho was one of the truest
instances of an English great lady that I have ever
met. The simplicity and nobility of her nature made
themselves felt by all about her, and attracted great
and small alike, though her intellectual gifts were only
those of an ordinary clever person. A thorough
woman, she combined the unselfishness of her sex
with a courage and straightforwardness which made
her the most genuine of human beings. Indeed, she
seemed to live in a sort of mountain atmosphere
which was above all the small conventionalities and
fictions of society, which she somehow disregarded
without giving any offence. By the world she was
thought alarming, as her majestic and rather impassive
carriage concealed the warmth of her heart, not for
her own friends only, but for anyone who was in
sorrow or trouble; while her direct and sensible
criticisms on matters of literature and art, in which
she took a keen interest, made her talk often instructive
and always worth hearing. Though she had lived all
her life in fashionable society, there was no one more
alive to the truth of Goethe's words, " Earnestness
alone makes life eternity."

Some days after the ball I lunched at the Elchos'
house in St. James' Place, and met my friend, Franco
Charteris, who had by this time returned from Italy.
The house had belonged to the poet Rogers, and was
filled with pictures and objects of virtu which Lord
Elcho had collected. One of the guests at this
luncheon was the old Lord Wemyss, Lord Elcho's
father, a stalwart and very Scottish-looking old gentle-
man of over seventy. I am always glad to have seen
this fine specimen of an older generation, who had

I 2

ii6 LORD ELCHO [VII.

been one of the best-known sportsmen of his time,
and specially celebrated as a Master of Hounds. I
remember to have read in Nimrod's sporting tour
that Lord Elcho, as he then was, keeping his hounds
at Dunse, several times rode over from Edinburgh, a
distance of forty miles, before breakfast, and back
again in the evening.

His son, the present Lord Wemyss, was in some
ways a still more remarkable man than his father, and
as he has long been a public character, I hope that
I shall not be doing wrong if I endeavour to give
a rough sketch of him, as I did of the Dons at
Balliol. His mother had been a Bingham, a sister of
Lord Lucan, of Crimean fame, a clever and beautiful
woman, but small, with finely-cut features. Lord
Elcho himself was a curious combination of his two
parents. He had the stalwart figure and large bony
structure of his father, but on the top of it a rather
thin, delicately-shaped face, reproducing in large his
mother's beautiful outlines and richness of colour. I
have always heard that when a young man, his tout-
ensemble was very remarkable, especially from the
brightness and animation which seemed to radiate
from his presence, and to lighten up any company
into which he entered ; a statement which is borne
out by Ruskin in his " Praeterita," saying that when at
Christ Church Lord Elcho was the finest specimen
of the Caucasian he had ever met. He had also
inherited his father's sporting gifts, being a first-rate
rider and shot ; indeed, even when I knew him, he
could do most things better than other people. All
his life he had had a genuine devotion to art and an
instinctive appreciation of anything which was good.
As he began to collect pictures and objects of virtu

1870-76] DANCING LESSONS 117

from a young man, he had brought together a number
of beautiful things in his home in St. James' Place,
especially old masters, many of which he had picked
up at low prices before the rage for such things set
in. He was himself an amateur artist of considerable
skill, having an unusual power of drawing likeness
from memory, and a keen eye for the picturesque in
nature, especially of effects of light on the sea and
clouds. To show how versatile were his gifts, I may
mention that, at a later time, when eighty years old,
he was completing at the same moment a nude statue
of Venus life-sized, and a patent spade to be carried
by soldiers, which could be used also as a saw, a
frying-pan or a hatchet. Like everyone, doubtless he
had the defects of his qualities, but I shall not " lay
hands on my father Parmenides." There are not many
men, and certainly not many Scotsmen, who possess
the rare and indefinable gift of charm which was
undoubtedly his.

From the time of my arrival in London to the end
of the season, I gave myself up to society, as my father
had determined that I was to have a year's holiday
before starting to work at the Bar. In this pursuit I
found myself considerably handicapped by my want
of skill in dancing. It was therefore arranged that I
should attend at M. D'Egville's house in Conduit
Street and have some private lessons. This was a
very trying performance. I was turned into a room
with two active young women, who in turn played the
piano and whirled me round on a stretched crumb-
cloth. As luck would have it, the house was being
painted outside, and the time of my lesson corre-
sponded with the dinner hour of the painters, who
sat in a row watching my efforts and making sarcastic

ii8 FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR [VII.

remarks, which were perhaps the more telling because
they could not be heard through the glass.

In July this year my friend, Franco Charteris, who
has been so often mentioned in these pages, died from
an accident with a revolver in his father's house. I
shall not dwell on this tragedy, one of the greatest
sorrows of my life. The ball lodged in his brain, and
he remained for some days in an unconscious state.
I was allowed to see him not long before his death,
and found his mother by his side clothed in white,
and with her marble face and her long black hair
looking like a denizen of another world, who had
come to end his sufferings and bear away his soul.

At the close of the summer the French war broke
out, and a startling series of surprises followed in
quick succession. Few persons in English society
had any idea that the Germans would win. Indeed, I
remember Colonel Reilly, who had accompanied the
Austrian army as Military Attach6 in the disastrous
campaign of 1866, and who ought, therefore, to have
known something of Prussian efficiency, declaring
that the French would be in Berlin in six weeks.
Accustomed as our minds soon became to wonderful
events, I still recall the astonished doubt with which
I saw one fine September day, as I was walking across
Oxford Circus, a newspaper placard announcing the sur-
render of the French Emperor and his army at Sedan.

About the middle of September I went to Scotland
and paid various visits, beginning with the Grahams
at Urrard, a place which I have mentioned in my
Oxford chapter.

While there I caught my first salmon, an epoch in
everyone's existence, as T. H. Green used to say of
the first reading of " Faust,"

1870-76] STOBHALL 119

Mr. Graham, my host at Urrard, rented also a place
on the Tay called Stobhall, a curious little old Scottish
house with a quaint garden, perched on a ledge above
the river. It belonged to Lady Willoughby de Eresby,
and chairs, curtains, and table-cloths were all of
Drummond tartan, which was quite in keeping with
the spirit of the place. One of Fred Walker's most
beautiful drawings was done in the old garden, and
" Mr. Briggs " caught his first salmon in a stream a
little way below the house, both Walker and Leech
having been friends of my host. In those days the
fishing on the Tay was mostly what is called
" harling," i.e., the fisher sits in a boat rowed back-
wards and forwards across the water by two fisher-
men with a rod fixed in front of him, which tows a fly
some distance off down the stream. To an expert
this method is comparatively poor sport, as the boat
catches the fish, and the angler merely plays it when
hooked. But to a novice like myself it was exciting
enough, and I remember that no rain or wind could
keep me indoors if the water was fishable.

On leaving Urrard I went to Gordon Castle, where
I found as good salmon fishing as the island affords,
and was instructed in the art of " casting," which by a
person accustomed to trout-fishing is easily acquired
up to a certain point. My arrival at this angler's
paradise was of rather an alarming character to a shy
youth. I had met my old Eton acquaintance, March, at
the Blair games, and was by him asked to visit his
father's place. Accordingly I fired off a letter a few
days before, but as March had gone to a shooting-
lodge up in the hills, he did not get the letter in time
to communicate with the Castle. It was dressing-
time when I arrived, and I was rather disturbed by

120 GORDON CASTLE [VII.

the look of surprise which the groom of the chambers
was unable to conceal, and at his saying that he
"would tell His Grace," instead of showing me to my
room. My horror may be conceived when, on turning
down the counterpane, I saw that the bed was not
prepared. I dressed with all speed, but they had gone
into dinner when I got down, and I had to march into
the middle of a smart party, few of whom were known
to me. Though I was received with kindness, my
position was rather a trying one till March came back,
and a day or two later my father and sisters appeared.
Gordon Castle was unique in its way. Thirty years
before, when my father used to go there as a young
man, no one ever thought of fishing in the Spey but
the butler. In 1870 there were, I should think, some
ten or twelve miles of river abounding in fish, and
nearly all fishable from the bank. This was divided
into beats of two or three pools each, and to each beat
a fisherman was attached, and a boat kept on most of
the pools. All these myrmidons used to assemble in
a court at the back of the Castle after breakfast, and
the would-be anglers, who generally comprised all the
men in the Castle, waited for orders iix a paved room
surrounded with models of exceptional fish and other
trophies. About 10 o'clock the orders came down
written in the Duke's hand, specifying the beat each
guest was to have, and the fisherman who was to
attend him. A pool near the house was always kept
for the ladies, though in those days, except the
daughters of the house, fisherwomen were not
numerous. As soon as he had got his orders, every-
one rushed out, taking a sandwich which he had con-
structed at breakfast, and either walked to a near beat,
or was driven to a far one, returning mostly just in

1870-76] DRUMLANRIG 121

time for dinner. It was a grand life for the men,
though not a specially social one, as the evenings were
short and the sportsmen sleepy.

On leaving Gordon Castle, I went to another house
where the sport, though of a different sort, was equally
enjoyable. This was Drumlanrig in Dumfriesshire,
an almost princely possession, and the more imposing
because approached through no park wall or definite
" policy," although some miles from the house you
became aware that you were in the demesne from the
well-clipped hedges which bordered the roads. The
house itself, an imposing structure built of red granite,
square, with corner turrets, stood upon rising ground,
dominating the valley of the Nith. In the autumn
there was excellent wild shooting four or five days a
week, consisting of grouse or blackcock driving, or
beating small coverts in the glens and valleys. The
shooting party of some eight to twelve guns started
after an early breakfast in an omnibus with four horses
and postilions, driving often many miles into the hills,
and only getting back in time for dinner. I remember
one day during my first visit seeing seventy-two
blackcock laid -out at lunch, and on another occasion,
when I disgraced myself by my bad shooting, the bag
was over two hundred brace of grouse. In those days
Walter Francis, the old Duke, used sometimes to
accompany us. He seldom handled a gun, but
generally took a walking-stick and stood on the flank
of the drive watching the shooting, and commenting
afterwards on the performance. Though not more
than twelve years older than my father, he had all the
flavour of an older generation. His great position and
vast estates made him something of a grand seigneur,
though his habits were simple and his appearance

122 A. B. DIXON'S CHAMBERS [VII.

rather that of an Elder of the Kirk. He always wore a
dark grey cutaway coat, shepherd's plaid trousers, and
a cap with a large peak, and out of doors carried a
plaid over his shoulder. His manner was abrupt,
and he was fond of a brusque sort of chaff, but no one
had a kinder heart.

The year's holiday, which my father had prescribed
after Oxford, having come to an end, and it being the
fashion in those days for a would-be barrister to read
six months with a conveyancer, I entered at the
beginning of the Epiphany Term, 1871, in the chambers
of A. B. Dixon. This was at first somewhat of an
ordeal after the life of amusement I had been leading.
The scene of my studies was a dark poky room on
the ground floor of New Square, Lincoln's Inn, lit
by a reflector and looking into a dusty little yard.
This den was tenanted by three other pupils and
myself, while A. B. lived in a dog-kennel opening out
of our room and warmed only by an old stove. Each
pupil had a small table, and there was another large
one under the window covered with stacks of dusty
papers, tied up in tape, which had once been red.

Our day began at 10 a.m., when A. B. read with us
for an hour in an exhilarating work called " Williams
on Real Property," which he expounded with great
gusto. A. B. himself was not quite what one would
expect from his profession and surroundings, though
he always looked as if he would have been the better
for a good dusting. He was a broad, cheery little
man, with good features, a shock of hair inclined to
curl, and a twinkling eye. I believe that he loved his
profession, and thought an " Abstract of Title " the
finest achievement of human intelligence — a point of
view in which I eventually came to share more than

1870-76] LONDON SOCIETY 123

could have been expected. My fondness for handling
words and for work requiring ingenuity rather than
thought, gave me considerable interest in " Con-
veyancing," while the amount of history and occasional
picturesqueness in the law relating to land made it
more attractive to my taste than the more modern and
business-like commercial law.

Accordingly, for the first few months in New
Square I worked with vigour, and attended with
regularity for all the six months of my apprenticeship ;
but after Easter I am afraid that the claims of Terpsi-
chore interfered considerably with my studies. My
father always held strongly to the view that it was
part of a young man's education to take his fill of
society during the early years of his life. I think that
perhaps he was justified by his own experience, as
the great number of his friends and his knowledge of
persons in influential positions had often been of use
to him. But, on the whole, I have serious doubts
whether this regime should be generally recom-
mended, from the point of view of efficiency. It
is not merely that it prevents regularity of work,
leads to desultory habits, and accustoms its votary
to a mode of life which renders discomfort difficult.
Its great drawback is that it softens a young man's
whole fibre, surrounding him with shallow standards
in morals and taste, and, substituting persiflage for
earnestness, prevents him taking things seriously till
it is too late.

In the winter of this year I met Thomas Carlyle.
Lady Taylor, who had been one of our Sheen friends,
knowing that I, in common with most of my generation,
was an admirer of the Sage of Chelsea, very kindly
asked me to dinner to meet him. He was then old

i24 THOMAS CARLYLE [VII.

and shrunken, with a great shock head of grey hair
and bright eyes. At dinner I was too far off to hear
his talk. But when the ladies had gone I managed to
get nearer, and listened to his vivid and picturesque
stories, which came out one after another, quite
silencing Sir John Coleridge, who had a great reputa-
tion as a raconteur. I remember that he told the
story of his being a juror in a civil action, when after
a protracted trial, the jury were shut up without food
or fire, as was then the custom, and failed to come to
an agreement after some hours' disputing. Eleven of
them were of one way of thinking, but the twelfth
held out. Carlyle gave a vivid presentment of this
individual ; a ponderous man with a face like an egg,
whose pockets were filled with sandwiches and
biscuits, on which he from time to time regaled him-
self. As long as these stores lasted he would listen
to no argument. But at last when his stock was
exhausted Carlyle tackled him, pointing out that the
party whom he favoured must necessarily be put to
the expense of a new trial, when, as every one must
admit, the odds would be eleven to one against his
getting a verdict. This argument, backed by the
want of sandwiches, eventually prevailed over the
egg-faced man, and Carlyle led the jury back to the
Court in triumph. After we joined the ladies, the
story-teller merged in the prophet, a much less
interesting phase. He sat in an arm-chair surrounded
by all the women of the party, some literally sitting at
his feet, and poured forth a monotonous chant of
denunciation of the manners, minds and morals of
the present generation, "a tale of little meaning,
though the words were strong."

In the following spring I went as Marshal to Baron

1870-76] BARON MARTIN 125

Martin on the Western Circuit, Baron Bramwell
being the other Judge. Both Judges were friends of
my. father, and it was certainly a great piece of good
luck being thrown into intimate relations with two
such curious and individual characters, representing
types which were rapidly passing away. Baron
Martin, like many other legal lights, came from the
north of Ireland, and spoke in a strong dialect, not
unlike that used in Lancashire. He was more or
less master of two subjects, law and racing, whilst on
most others he was as ignorant as a boy. Racing
was not in my line, but I believe he had a prodigious
acquaintance with racing history, and knew the winners
of all the chief events for many years back. As a
lawyer, without being in any way a pundit or
philosophic jurist, he had a sound knowledge of
ordinary and commercial law, and a strong common
sense in the application of this knowledge. In history,
literature and art, he seemed to take no interest what-
ever, and if ever he had had any education in these
subjects he had discarded, one can hardly say for-
gotten it, as his memory for law and racing was very
retentive. Many stories were current illustrative of
this peculiar condition of his mind, such as his remark
"That Shakespeare is an enormously over-rated
man." On one occasion he said to my father, " Mr.
Liddell, neither Minos nor Rhadamanthus, nor any
other angel from heaven, could try an election peti-
tion," and to myself once, when we were walking
about Plymouth waiting for a train, he pointed to a
chimney near the station to which we were returning,
and remarked, " Yonder is our Ultima Thule." One
long vacation he was at Folkestone and much enjoying
himself, sitting on the beach and reading the new

126 BARON BRAMWELL [VII.

Bankruptcy Act, when he announced to his family
that he was going to Canterbury. They felt some
surprise, and on his return asked him what he thought
of the Cathedral. " What Cathedral ? " replied the
Baron. " Why, didn't you go to Canterbury to see
the Cathedral?" said Lady Martin. "Cathedral,"
answered old Sam, " what should I want with a Cathe-
dral ? I went to see the Cattle Show of course." These
utterances of his were conveyed with a pronunciation
and emphasis peculiar to the speaker, which cannot be
reproduced in writing.

Real property law being the Baron's weakest point,
he had a great admiration for masters of this learning,
like Mr. Justice Willes, and Baron Cleasby, and was
fond of assuring us that these pundits were the greatest
lights that the human race had ever seen. Occasionally
he used to add to this distinguished couple " a young
man of the name of Gerard, who was at Trinity College,
Dublin, with me, and I am not sure that he was not the
cleverest of the three. But having taken an out of the
way living, he so vexed himself over the question
of Regeneration by Baptism that he went off his
head."

Baron (afterwards Lord) Bramwell was quite as great
a character, though not such an oddity as Martin. He
was a large man with a massive head, a deep voice
and well-shaped hands. He was much more of a man
of the world than Martin, and had none of the childlike
simplicity and ignorance of things in general which
formed such a strange feature in the nature of that
worthy. Bramwell had a commanding character and a
power of insight, which made it a pleasure to hear him
try a case. I should not say that he was a man of
literary or artistic tastes, but he was certainly fond ol

1870-76] DUTIES AS MARSHAL 127

music, and often used to play on the old pianos which
decorated our lodgings.

On looking back to the time of that Western Circuit,
I have often wished that I had been able to take down
verbatim the conversations which took place between
the two Judges, as it may be conceived that two such
originals, both having complete confidence in their own
views, handled topics in a thoroughly novel manner,
quite unlike anything I have heard before or since.

The duties of a Marshal were not severe, though
my desire to learn my profession kept me in Court
most of the day. When the Judge was in the Civil
Court, the Marshal had to abstract the record. The
record was a long roll of parchment containing the
pleas in all the cases to be tried. The abstraction con-
sisted in writing out on a separate piece of paper the
names of the case and the titles of the pleas, such as
" non-assumpsit " ; or where the plea was a special one,
giving a precis of its contents. Our other duties were
ordering the carriage, writing and answering invi-
tations, and generally acting as sort of A. D. C.'stothe
Judge.

One afternoon, at Winchester, Martin rose early, and
we drove across the downs to , where a well-
known trainer called John Day had his stables. The
Baron was persona gratissima with all the racing world,
and Mr. Day and his son received us with great honour.
After seeing the stables we witnessed a trial between
" Sir Amyas, " who was one of the crack horses of that
year, and another animal. While this was going on,
some figures were espied in the distance crouching
behind gorse bushes. These were touts who had
come to spy upon "Sir Amyas." They were im-
mediately pursued by some of the stablemen, but

128 THE WESTERN CIRCUIT [VII.

managed to effect their escape. At 3 o'clock we sat
down to a thoroughly British dinner of boiled salmon,
roast pork, and apple-tart. I vainly endeavoured to
shake off the repletion caused by this meal by walking
back to Winchester across the downs, but found that
I was quite incapable when the Judges' dinner to the
Bar took place at seven o'clock. However, as one of
our duties was to carve at this entertainment, I had not
much time for my own wants.

The spring of 1871 was exceptionally mild, and I
enjoyed the time at Dorchester, Exeter and Bodmin,
where we went on leaving Winchester.

The business at these places was not onerous, and
was mainly in the hands of two leaders, Cole, Q. C.,
and Lopes, Q. C. (afterwards Lord Justice). These two
were at daggers drawn, and their quarrellings at times
became unpleasant. Cole was a quick, shrill, eager
man with a sharp voice, a beaky nose and a bright eye.
Lopes was a slow, steady, careful advocate, solidly
built, with a general stoniness of appearance. He was
at times exasperating from his phlegm and imperturb-
ability, driving his antagonist quite wild, and even
rubbing up occasionally the good-natured Sam Martin.

At Exeter there was a great debate on an important
point of law and custom, viz. whether the Judge could
go to an oyster supper with the High Sheriff. It was
well established that the Sheriff, as the Judge's servant,
could not ask them to dinner, but someone started the
idea that after 12 o'clock the Sheriffs service terminated
till the next day. A solemn consultation was held,
and this specious doctrine was decided to be fallacious.
A compromise, however, was effected by its being
arranged that the banquet should be given by the
High Sheriffs wife.

1870-76] ADVENTURE ON THE DART 129

After the Assizes at Exeter, Baron Martin and I
went to spend Saturday and Sunday with a friend of
his near Totnes. The grounds of the house ran down
to the Dart, and on Sunday afternoon I embarked in
an old dinghy, which I picked up, on a voyage down
the river. I was tempted to round point after point,
and eventually found myself late in the afternoon
stuck on a sand bank. I had to take off my shoes and
stockings and jump overboard in order to get off,
which I succeeded in doing, though I got very muddy
in the process, and in my struggles broke one of the
sculls. I was now in a pretty plight, being several
miles from home, and with only one scull to propel the
boat. However, I started rowing like a gondolier
from the after-thwart, which lifted the boat's bow and
enabled me to use the wind to prevent the rowing
from one side bringing her round. In this way I
arrived at home just in time to dress, feeling after my
feat of seamanship quite a second Admiral Rous.

At Bodmin the Judge's lodgings were in a girl's
school, which turned out when the Assizes came on.
I had a large four-post bed, evidently occupied by
several girls, as it was all in ridge and furrow, and
was like sleeping on a gridiron.

Bristol was the last town on the Circuit. The
Corporation, who were our hosts, had taken a good
house for us at Clifton, not far from the Suspension
Bridge, and entertained us very well. When we
arrived, I was told by the butler that the Corporation
did not allow each marshal more than six whiskies-
and-sodas per diem. This seemed a liberal allowance,
but it was explained to me that the restriction arose
because a former marshal, who had been in the army,
had given an entertainment to his friends from the

L.L. K

130 QUAIN AND GROVE, J.J. [VII.

Bristol barracks, who consumed a fabulous number of
these refreshers at the expense of the Municipality.

On my return from Circuit I resumed work with
A. B. Dixon, and spent the summer in conveyancing
by day and dancing by night. At the end of June I
went as marshal to Mr. Justice Quain, on the Oxford
Circuit. The other Judge was Mr. Justice Grove,
Coleridge Grove (now General Sir Coleridge Grove,
K.C.B.), a captain in the army, being his marshal.

Quain was an odd man outwardly and inwardly
He was very short and round, with a large forehead,
protruding eyes, and no chin. Owing to his having
been brought up in Germany, he was more of a
philosopher than most English lawyers of eminence,
and he was excellent company when in a good humour,
though this condition did not always obtain, as he was
of an irritable temperament, and much inclined to be
huffy if he thought his dignity was not sufficiently
recognised. Mr. Justice Grove was quite as much of
a character in his way. He was a most likeable man,
though rather difficult, as his bad health made him
fanciful, and full of odd habits which nothing would
induce him to modify. As a man of science he had a
European reputation, and his education and tastes in
this direction gave a bent to his mind most unlike
that of the ordinary legal luminary. His talk was full
of wisdom and interest, and all that he said bore the
stamp of an original intellect.

The Circuit began at Reading, and as when the
work there was over we had a day to spare, I arranged,
with the assistance of a waterman, to row my Judge
up the Thames to Oxford. We were taken down to
the boathouse in the Sheriffs carriage with great
pomp, and started amid the cheers of a crowd, little

1870-76] THE OXFORD CIRCUIT 131

Quain, attired in a frock-coat and tall hat, taking the
helm with great gravity. It soon became clear that
the Judge was no seaman, as our course was of a zig-
zag character, taking us from bank to bank, amid
redoubled cheers from the spectators, till I persuaded
his Lordship to abandon his office, and steered the
boat by the oars. At first he was much on his high
horse, but after a time he began to thaw under the
beauty of the day and the surroundings, and produced
a wideawake from his pocket, which he substituted
for the tall hat, and by the time that lunch was laid
under a tree, and I was breaking up the ice for the
claret cup with the boat-hook, he was in high good
humour and called me " Doll."

The Oxford Circuit had a lot of good men on it in
those days. Huddleston was the leader, and after
him came Powell, Q.C., Henry Matthews, Henry
James and Motteram, while among the juniors were
J. O. Griffits, Bosanquet and H. Young, all sound men.
The celebrated Dr. Kenealy also appeared occasionally,
and had rows with the Judge and the other counsel.
Coleridge Grove, my brother marshal, was older than
I, but he was a clever and agreeable companion, so
that I enjoyed the Oxford Circuit almost as much as I
had done the Western, though nothing quite made up
for the piquancy of Martin and Bramwell. Now and
then, of course, with two such marked characters as
Quain and Grove, things did not go quite smoothly.
Quain would be furious at some fancied slight on the
part of the High Sheriff, or because the Chaplain of
that dignitary came to dinner in a flannel shirt ;
Grove would declare that he could not sleep, and
would insist on having a garret made ready as his bed-
room, so that there might be nobody above him, or on

K 2

132 DRESDEN [VII.

dining at six, in order to secure a better night. He
even carried these requirements into private houses
where we stayed, and I remember that at Pitchford, a
beautiful old timbered house belonging to Mr. Cotes,
all the housemaids had to be turned out of the attics
in order to lodge the Judge.

When the legal vacation began I went abroad with
Raper (who has been mentioned before in these
annals) to Dresden, where we had taken lodgings at a
house much frequented by Oxonians, kept by one
Fraulein Kretchmer. There we found excellent rooms,
and settled down in them to the study of German and
the various art collections. The opera house had
lately been burnt down, but a commodious wooden
theatre had been erected, where a series of
Shakespeare's plays was being given. These we read
in Schlegel's translation, and then went to hear them
acted. At the same time I thought it would be a good
opportunity to improve my dancing, and we engaged
the wife of the ballet master of the opera to give us
lessons. The Ballet-Meisterinn was a dashing lady
with a huge fringe and very high heels. After she
had taught us the steps of the valse, she introduced
various female pupils to put us through our facings.

The next event of importance that I shall mention
was my becoming, on the recommendation of Jowett,
a pupil of Charles Bowen's, who had chambers with
Sir John Coleridge in Brick Court. The other pupils
were Edward Marjoribanks, the late Lord Tweed-
mouth, M. Mackenzie, now the Official Referee, and a
Mr. Fussell.

Bowen was an interesting character. He was a
man of exceptional ability, and full of spirits and
energy, but I cannot say that when I left his chambers

1870-76] BOWEN'S CHAMBERS 133

at the end of the year with him I had the least
notion of what the real Bowen was. He seemed
too busy to care very much for anything or any-
body in the world, though he devoted the most con-
scientious labour to his work. He had that almost
exaggerated suavity and politeness which characterised
Oxford men in the fifties, as I have remarked in my
Oxford chapter. This led occasionally into over-praise,
but I always felt that he was aloof and apart, and gave
our efforts the sort of benign, half-amused encourage-
ment that Gulliver gave to those of the Lilliputians.
I remember that during my time with him, I had once
for about three weeks some trouble with one of my
eyes. For twenty years Bowen, whenever he met me,
after a warm greeting used to reflect a little, and then
say in his dulcet tones, " How is your eye ? " I expect
this appreciation is very superficial, as I had little
opportunity of knowing the man, and from some frag-
ments of his poetry which I have seen since his death,
I should say that he felt profoundly the riddle of the
painful earth, and the incapacity of even his unusual
powers to set the crooked straight.

As our master, we did not get much instruction from
him. He was occupied all day attending the Courts,
and used only to appear at chambers late in the evening,
and on Saturdays when the Court did not sit, put his
head into the pupils' room and say, " Read ' Elton on
Commons • and I will talk to you about it next
Saturday." We used, however, to draw pleadings and
interrogatories which Bowen corrected, or rather
scratched out from beginning to end. On the whole
it was not a good school for a beginner. The
Tichborne case absorbed most of Bowen's time, he
having set out the facts in a series of note-books for

134 THE TICHBORNE CASE [VII.

Sir John Coleridge's speech in a masterly fashion —
and while this lasted the cases in chambers were few
and not of the smaller kind which are useful to a
beginner, but great stacks of papers for opinion,
involving complicated points of law. One of them I
remember well was connected with fishing rights in
the Avon, and went back to Domesday Book.

Besides this lack of legal pabulum, our interests
were naturally absorbed mainly by the excitement
and romance of the Tichborne case, the fortunes of
which we followed with the deepest interest. I
remember Coleridge's head clerk putting his head
into our room one day, and saying in a voice of
dignified delight, " 'E 'ave a Ha Ho on his right-arm,"
(he has an A. O. — Arthur Orton — on his right arm).

One evening Bowen rushed into chambers just as I
was leaving, and asked me if I would like to come with
him and hear the examination of a dying man, which
was to be taken on commission. I assented, and we
drove off in a cab to the docks. There we were taken
up to a small room, where on a bed lay a fine-looking
man with a large beard. He was terribly thin, and his
eyes shone with an unnatural brilliancy. A solitary
candle lit up the apartment. Charles Hall, afterwards
Recorder of London, was the examiner, and Pollard
attended on behalf of the Claimant The sick man
was then examined by Bowen, and related how he was
the son of a farmer in Essex to whose house Arthur
Orton had been sent for his health. The witness told
us how he used to have to throw buckets of cold
water over Orton every morning, and described his
physical peculiarities, wjiich agreed with those of the
Claimant.

I continued in Bowen's chambers till the Long

1870-76] ESLINGTON 135

Vacation, working hard, and going into society in the
evenings.

When the Long Vacation arrived I took the works of
the immortal Blackstone, and started off to my uncle's
house in Northumberland, where I proposed to assimi-
late the Common Law of England, in the quiet of the
country. Eslington was an attractive place — a long,
low, grey stone house situated in a wild open country
in the foot-hills of Cheviot. The property, which had
originally belonged to a branch of the Collingwoods
who were attainted after '45, was bought from the
Government by George Liddell, the member for
Berwick in the middle of the eighteenth century. It
stretched on the east up into the whinstone hills of the
Cheviots, and on the west as far as the sandstone
formation which traverses Northumberland, which
there broke out in a picturesque region of crags,
Scotch firs and heather, in marked contrast to the bare
uplands of the granite. A little trout stream ran
through the park, flowing under a pretty old grey stone
bridge of one high arch, of the kind portrayed in
Bewick's vignettes. In this pleasant abode I devoted
myself to the wisdom of the learned commentator,
taking an occasional day after partridges or grouse,
when I got the chance, or trying the burn in the
afternoons. After a month of this mixture of utile
dulci I paid several visits in Scotland.

The time was now approaching when I was to take
the first plunge into life on my own account by joining
the Durham Sessions. I had had no practice in
speaking in public, and on the few occasions when I
had been called upon to make a speech at dinners or
weddings, I had been painfully conscious of making a
fool of myself, and of complete inability to think on

136 DURHAM SESSIONS [VII.

my legs. Consequently I naturally, being of nervous
temperament, felt most apprehensive of my first
attempt to speak in Court, and as the time drew nearer
the shadow of the approaching ordeal never left me.
Seldom have I felt more forlorn and miserable than
when I arrived at Durham at midnight on October igih,
1872. Fate too was spiteful. The hotel, where my
father had been wont to put up when he attended the
Sessions, had gone to the bad, and was, when I
reached it, bankrupt. The bedroom assigned to me
was comfortless, the food was of the worst kind, and I
spent the next day in great dejection. In the after-
noon a letter came from the head of the Sessions mess
saying that I had gone to the wrong house, and asking
me to come in after dinner. I went accordingly, and
found a room thick with smoke, in which some learned
gentlemen were playing whist, others were reading.
Upon the sofa was stretched the figure of a very fat
counsellor, sunk in a stertorous slumber. Two others
of his brethren were pouring water from a kettle into
the bowl of a churchwarden pipe, the end of which was
inserted into the sleeper's collar. In a few minutes
this treatment roused the patient from his slumbers.
He leapt to his feet, said "Raining again, by Jove,"
and staggered off to bed.

In spite of this somewhat inauspicious introduction,
I found a warm welcome, and special kindness was
shown me by all for my father's sake. On the
following day I moved to the hotel where the mess
was put up, and attended the Quarter Sessions Court,
then and long after presided over by John Wharton,
the best of chairmen. The Court sat in two parts, the
second Court being assigned to a clergyman of the
name of Wilkinson. As a barrister with many briefs

1870-76] MY FIRST BRIEF 137

might have one of them called on in each Court at the
same time, it was the custom for these fortunate
persons to ask a junior to read through some of
the smaller cases, so that he might take charge of them
if they came on in the one Court, when the holder was
engaged in the other. This juniors were quite willing
to do for nothing, on account of the practice it afforded,
and the consequent chance of getting known. A

solemn barrister of the name of A gave me a

case to look after for him. It was some simple theft
or other, of which I remember nothing except that the
prisoner's name was " Mary Ann." I don't suppose
any story was ever put in so many different ways as
poor Mary Ann's crime. I wrote it out in three or
four different versions, I learned one of them by
heart, and repeated it to myself over and over again
in the solitary walks I took at night, changing every
sentence, and polishing and perfecting like a poet
composing an ode to his mistress. I thought of every
conceivable disaster which might happen, and what
its effect would be upon the trial. I broke out into a
cold perspiration when it occurred to me that my
voice might refuse to come out at all. Finally, after
two days' indescribable suffering, the case was called
on, and the owner of the brief came at once and did it
himself. At the following winter Sessions I got my
first brief on my own account. It was an extremely
simple case and came on in the second Court. As I
rose to make my opening, Greenhow, the leader of
the Sessions, came in from the first Court, and sat
down beside me. He did this from regard for my
father, and I have never forgotten it, and shall not
forget it. The prisoner was duly convicted.
On my return to London after the Sessions I went

138 LIFE AT THE BAR [VII.

into the chambers of R. G. Williams, a leading junior
on the Lancashire side of the Northern Circuit. He
was a good-natured Welshman, with a gift for pleading
and practice, but of no remarkable powers in other
directions, and I learnt little under him, as he had no
gift of teaching. I used to read all Williams' briefs at
Assizes, and listen to them when they came on, which
was to some extent an advantage, but he never took
any trouble to explain the points to us, unless we
asked him, which, as he was very busy at these times,
we did not like to do.

In the winter of 1873, I attended my first Assizes.
I had been staying at Ravensworth, and went into
Newcastle in the beginning of January, with all the
feelings of a small boy going to school for the first
time. That night I dined at the Bar Mess, Edward
Ridley introducing me to some of the leaders of the
Circuit, who received me with many kind allusions to
my father.

From this date a large portion of my life consisted
in attending Circuit and Sessions, which occupied
rather more than three months in each year. For
fifteen years I went round this treadmill, one step of
which was very like another. I do not, therefore
propose to chronicle my many journeys, but will try
to give a general idea of this part of my life and my
attitude towards it, recording any special incidents in
the order of time.

When I first joined the Sessions it was usual to
come the night before the Court sat, or if the first day
was a Monday, to appear on the Saturday. Most of
us stayed till it was time to go on to the next town.
We therefore lived together, generally at the same
hotel, for the whole week, and became a kind of family

1870-76] VISITS ON CIRCUIT 139

on friendly terms with each other. As time went on
the fashions changed, and after a few years briefs
were seldom delivered till the morning on which the
Court sat, and many barristers, if they did not get
work, left after the first day. Except at Durham,
where I had good lodgings, we were badly housed,
and often went through a good deal of discomfort in
winter. When at Durham and Newcastle, I generally
got a few days at Ravensworth before and after the
times of business. Indeed, all round the Circuit the
" wind was tempered " by visits in the intervals of
attending the Courts to the houses of friends and
relations, or by going on fishing or walking excursions.

These visits were of no special interest, with one
or two exceptions, the first of which was a Saturday
to Monday at Knowsley in the time of Edward
Henry, Lord Derby. Several of the barristers on the
Circuit were bidden, among whom was the late Lord
Herschell, who had not then declared himself a
Liberal, and whom the Conservatives, it was rumoured,
hoped to annex. I remember that we arrived at tea-
time, and that Lord Derby discoursed about Ashanti,
it being the time of the Ashanti War, in a way which
struck us all by its information and originality.
Instead of finding, as I had expected from his appear-
ance, a rather stolid, ungracious man, I was surprised
all through the visit at the trouble he took to make
himself agreeable as a host.

Among the many places where I sojourned in the x
intervals of work, there was none where I had a
kinder welcome than at Whitburn Hall. Whitburn
was a pretty little fishing village between Shields and
Sunderland, and my cousin, Hedworth Williamson
lived at the Hall. On his cricket ground there was

i4o UNFITNESS FOR THE BAR [VII.

every year a great match between the Bar, captained
by A. J. Wilkinson, who had played for Gentlemen,
and a Whitburn team. A few of the barristers were
fair cricketers, but the majority of the team was com-
posed of what Wilkinson called " corpses." This did
not matter much at Whitburn, where the local talent
was mild, but led to fearful massacres of our eleven at
Manchester and York, where talent abounded.

These interludes were often very enjoyable, and
certainly helped me to endure the weary work of
attending Court. Except a prosecution now and then
on my own side of the Circuit, or an occasional
" docker," I got little or nothing to do, and only had
one civil brief at Assizes during my time at the Bar.
There can be no doubt that I was not well fitted by
nature for the legal profession, and only my father's
partiality for it and myself could have blinded him to
that fact. What mental powers I had were a long
way from the tip of my tongue, and I was hopelessly
deficient in readiness and repartee. Also, my natural
nervousness, increased by two or three early failures,
made life a perpetual struggle between the desire to
succeed in my profession, and the longing to shirk the
pain and humiliation of a task which I did badly,
though I managed generally to stand to my guns
pretty well. But, on the whole, I think I should have
done better if I had declined such things as dockers
before I had had some experience of Court work. A
" docker " is a most upsetting form of practice for a
beginner. When a case is called on, custom allows the
prisoner to hand down to any counsel he may choose
the sum of £1 3.9. 6d., generally made up of various
small coins wrapt in a dirty piece of paper. The
unfortunate advocate, if he is lucky, may have time to

1870-76] FIRST IMPORTANT CASE 141

glance through the " depositions," or he may have
to pick up the facts as the case proceeds, with faculties
benumbed with the apprehension of making a fool of
himself. Unfortunately, I got one of these doubtful
mercies shortly after I joined the Sessions. The case
was a hopeless one, and after I had made a rambling
speech, my client was promptly sentenced to fourteen
years' penal servitude. The effects of this perform-
ance on my nerves were disastrous, and were not
improved by my subsequent experience. In 1873,
hardly a year after I joined the Assizes, I had my first
important case. A solicitor who had known my
father gave me a junior brief in a trial for murder.
The case was a bad one. The delinquents, however,
were acquitted of murder, but the Judge decided that
they should be tried again on a charge of " wounding
with intent." The money of the prisoners being
exhausted, they were unable to retain a leader for
their second defence, but it was arranged that I should
have a " docker " in the case. I got on well enough
with the cross-examination by merely following, where
I could, the line which had been taken by my leader
in the murder trial. But when the time for my speech
drew near, which was about six o'clock in the evening,
after two long days in Court, I was in a desperate
state of terror. Shortly before the moment came for
getting on to my legs I went into the robing room,
and with difficulty refrained from taking refuge in
flight. However, I managed to pull myself together
and began a lame and faltering oration. After a while
I improved, and except once or twice, when I tried to
be sarcastic, I think my speech was just passable,
though I was rather disturbed by seeing that all the
newspapers made of my defence next day was to say

H2 HOLLY GROVE [VII.

that Mr. Liddell "contended that it was extremely
unlikely that the prisoners had committed the offence."

Shortly after these events I was taken ill with a
fever. When I got better I was sent down to Holly
Grove in Windsor Park, a house which my uncle
Augustus and his family had lately occupied in his
capacity of Deputy Ranger. It was beautifully situated
near the Ascot Road, on a high ridge, looking away
for miles over the flat country towards Harrow, and
having the towers of Windsor visible in the middle
distance. Many pleasant days have I spent at Holly
Grove, sitting on the lawn or rambling in the park and
forest. I remember on one of these occasions I
thought for a moment that I had really seen a ghost.
It was in the summer, when, being unable to sleep, I
let myself out just before dawn and started for a stroll.
All of a sudden I looked up and saw in the dim light a
colossal figure on horseback riding across the grass
towards me. For a moment I was petrified with
astonishment, but quickly recognised my old friend
the statue at the end of the " Long Walk," the pedestal
of which was hidden by an intervening rise in the
ground, so as to give the figure the appearance of
riding on the level.

My life in London was a happy one during these
years, i.e., when I could forget my profession. We
had a cheerful home in Rutland Gate, and I went out
with my sisters into society, my father often going
with them, so that we knew all about each others'
doings, and had plenty of common subjects for talk
and jokes. In the morning I visited the Courts at
Westminster, and after sitting in Court for a time pro-
ceeded to chambers, where I endeavoured to improve
myself by text-books and reports.

1870-76] "DEVILLING" 143

Occasionally I was asked by a friend to take a note,
and once or twice to hold a brief. I fear that I did not
make the most of these opportunities. Two of them I
remember with humiliation. My friend, Bob Reid,
wishing to do me a turn, handed me one of his briefs
to hold in the Common Pleas. The action was for
payment of a bill for coals, and we had to prove
delivery. This we proposed to do by putting in the
plaintiffs books, to which the defendant naturally
objected. I was quite nonplussed at this breakdown,
but fortunately dear old Grove was the Judge, who
kindly came to my rescue by adjourning the trial till
the next day, so that we might call the carman who
had left the coal. The solicitor, I believe, pitched into
Reid, and insisted that he should attend in person at
the adjourned hearing, which he did, and our case was
easily established.

My next performance of the kind was before Baron
Huddleston in one of the little attics where nisi prius
cases were sometimes tried. I was sitting there
twiddling my thumbs when C. Crompton rushed in,
threw a brief at me, and ran off again before I could
remonstrate. I began to read it, and found to my
horror that it was an action on a bill of exchange, an
invention of the devil round which is gathered a mass
of learning that I never could and never shall under-
stand. I was simply petrified and at my wits' end to
know what to do, when the case was called on.
Darling (now the Judge) was for the plaintiff, I was for
the defendant, a black man and a Parsee. Darling
proved the bill, and the defendant had then to go into
the box, when a long controversy was started as to
how he was to be sworn. Huddleston, most fortu-
nately, was known to me, and he took the case into his

144 REPORTING FOR THE TIMES [VII.

own hands, seeing how much I was at sea. After a
fierce debate between him and Darling it was settled
that the Parsee was to unbutton his waistcoat and take
the oath with his hand thrust inside a coloured thread
which encircled his waist. " The thread of the
Parcae," said Darling, giving promise of his future
distinction (laughter). In the skilful hands of
Huddleston the case did not last long, and after
about half-an-hour's indescribable agony the affair
ended by a verdict for the defendant, which the
delighted and astonished Crompton was just in time
to receive. I fear that his warmly-expressed opinion
of my powers was not shared by the solicitor who
had heard all that happened.

In 1875 I began to do occasional reporting for the
Times in the London Courts as deputy for Alfred
Hardy, and when C. Coleman was made a stipendiary
at Easter in the following year, I got his place as
second reporter in the Common Pleas. This work
necessitated my being at my place on most mornings
at ten o'clock, and was useful in causing attendance at
the Courts, and forcing me to listen to the causes being
tried. I was entirely my own master, and could
report a case or not as I liked, but was liable to
instant dismissal for neglect or bad work. Sometimes,
when cases of no public interest were before the
Court, or if the Court happened not to be sitting,
there was nothing to do except, in the first case, to look
in occasionally to see how things were going. On the
other hand, an important case which had to be reported
at length, was hard work, and might entail two or three
hours at Chambers after the Court rose, spent in
putting the report into shape.

When the Long Vacation began I generally joined

1870-76] MY SHOOTING 145

the family at Wildernesse, and afterwards went to
Eslington and to the Grahams in Scotland, finishing
up with Drumlanrig before the October Sessions.

Mr. Graham continued to rent Stob Hall, and we
had many pleasant expeditions to that attractive little
house, where I went on with my education as a fisher-
man. In those days I had not any rods or tackle of
my own, but was dependent on the rather cumbrous
rods and much-used tackle provided by my host for
the " harling." On one occasion, towards evening, I
was lashing the pool where Mr. Briggs carried his
salmon to land in his arms, and had a most disastrous
experience. I rose eighteen fish in the course of
about an hour, of which I only landed two. I do not
think I ever had a more depressing time in all my
fishing days, due, no doubt, largely to my own want
of skill.

It will have been gathered from former passages of
this history that I was devoted to shooting, and
though none of the places I visited preserved on at all
a modern scale, there was still plenty of sport to be
had. Till 1873 I was an exceptionally bad shot, and
suffered much annoyance and humiliation in conse-
quence ; indeed I had determined, after assisting in a
covert-shooting at Drumlanrig, where the bag was
402 head, in which I was responsible for the two,
to give up shooting altogether. But in 1873 my
good friend, the Duke of Buccleuch, told me to go
to Purdey and get measured for a gun. The first day
that I tried my new weapon was on the moors at
Eslington, when, to my great joy, I found that I
killed all average shots, and from that day became a
moderate performer of the normal type. It is difficult
to say how much the change added to the enjoyment

L.L. L

146 DRESDEN [VII.

of my holidays, and to my well-being in every way,
leading to long tramps in the hills and fields, and to
many pleasant parties, which I should have missed
had I given up being a " gun."

In the vacation of 1875 I and two of my sisters went
to Dresden in September, having got rooms at
Fraulein Kretchmer's, where I had been in 1871.
There we set to work at our various pursuits. My
sisters hired for a trifling sum the services of one of
the first violins at the opera, who used to accompany
their piano. In his absence an old Italian, who was
staying at Kretchmer's, would join in the performance
on his 'cello. When we had been at Dresden some
little time Villiers-Stanford and Arthur Coleridge
appeared, a great addition to our musical forces, and
we had frequent concerts in our sitting-room. In the
intervals an elderly lady used to come and talk to us
volubly in the German tongue. For my own private
delectation I got leave to copy in the gallery, where I
reproduced with immense pains, in water-colour,
various figures from the Feast of Cana in that
collection. The way that my countrymen and
Americans used to look over my shoulder and criti-
cise my mild attempts was rather trying, but I
soon became thick-skinned in that respect. After
enjoying ourselves for about six weeks we visited
Prague for a couple of days, and came home by
Brunswick.

In 1876 the old Northern Circuit was divided, anew
Circuit being formed for Northumberland, Durham and
Yorkshire called the North-Eastern, and admitting
members of the old Northern and Midland Circuits.
I became a member of this Circuit, a change which
was beneficial to me in many ways, as I had no chance

1870-76] GRAND COURT 147

of work in Lancashire, and the new Circuit occupying
less time, the expense was less.

The fusion of the two Circuits was not effected
without some friction, which showed itself in
squabbles over the rites and ceremonies to be
adopted for the new Circuit, and especially over
Grand Court.

The institution of Grand Court here alluded to was
one of the most deeply rooted of the Circuit customs.
It took place twice on a Circuit, and everyone was
expected to attend. Regular officers presided over it,
called the Attorney and Solicitor-General of the Court.
Another officer styled the " Crier " called persons into
the Court who were absent, and the doors were kept
by a " Messenger." It was the duty of the officers to
make speeches, mentioning in a ludicrous or satirical
way the names of the men who got business. Some-
times these orations were very clever and ingenious,
at others they verged on being insulting, especially in
the cases of the less popular of the persons dealt
with. Everyone who was mentioned in them was
fined so many bottles of claret according to his
means and position. At the beginning of the pro-
ceedings the Crier called all absentees into Court,
finding descriptive adjectives which he affixed to
their names, e.g., "Lengthy Liddell, come into the
Court ! " " Lollopping Liddell, come into the Court ! "
" Lengthy, lollopping, lady-like Liddell, come into the
Court!"

I had more friends in Yorkshire than in the County
Palatine, and after the Circuit came to York used to
stay at Bramham and Middlethorpe, but, above all, at
the villa at Escrick, which was only six miles from York,
and no great distance from Leeds. Beilby Lawley^

L 2

i48 CONSTANCE LAWLEY [VII.

now Lord Wenlock, inhabited this dwelling. I had

known him since he was a small boy at Warre's, but

only made the acquaintance of his wife Constance,

when I began to visit at their house. She quickly

became an intimate friend, and I will attempt to draw

her portrait as she then appeared. She was very

unlike the standard girl bred in a fox-hunting

aristocracy, and where she could have acquired her

elfin grace and originality I could never understand,

inclining at times to the theory that she had come as

an Undine into the nursery at Harewood from the

lake. All her qualities seemed to belong to that sort

of being rather than to the race of common men. She

was slightly but well built, and capable of much bodily

exertion if necessary, though, unless there was some

special attraction to tempt her out of doors, she would

rarely leave the house. Her colour and complexion

were delicate, and there was a far-away look in her

face as if she belonged to another world. She was

quite uninfluenced by authority and convention, but

had a genuine reverence for beauty, which she

worshipped in all its forms. Gifted with vivid

imagination, she lived in an ideal world, by no means

bound by qualities of things or persons as they really

existed. Still, she had a distinct appreciation of the

logical side of an argument, though indifferent to its

conclusions if they did not suit her own tastes. With

almost a touch of genius for landscape drawing, in

spite of her shortness of sight, she showed a

magnificent audacity in her attempts ; and had, though

her drawing was sometimes faulty, a remarkable gift

for reproducing the spirit of a landscape. Her natural

taste was true, and, combined with her power of

seeing things with the eye of the mind, made her

1870-76] MY DRAWING 149

judgment in all matters of decoration most reliable,
and wherever she was, an improvement in the arrange-
ment of the surroundings was sure to follow. In spite
of her somewhat dreamy nature, she was keenly
interested in philosophical and social questions, and
ready to argue on such topics at any moment. One of
the almost comic contrasts of her character was that
she advocated the grimmest utilitarian views, though
more, I think, because they were the first she had
happened to light on in her desultory reading than
from any special enthusiasm on their behalf. It may
be imagined that after some weeks of life in lodgings,
and of talk consisting mainly of legal shop, I found the
lively hospitality of the villa very refreshing.

Perhaps this would be a suitable place to say some-
thing about my own drawing. I had never attempted
landscape since I was at Loch Eil, but had done
caricatures in pen and ink pretty constantly both for
my own album and the game-books at places where I
stayed, and I had made a practice of sketching heads
in Court when I was Marshal and afterwards at
Sessions and Assizes. After a year or two at the Bar
I turned again to art as a comforter, and began by
copying a Sir Joshua in the gallery at Harewood. I
also worked daily at Harding's trees for half an hour
after breakfast in the winter, and gradually, though
with difficulty, mastered tree-drawing enough to
embark on landscapes, which I did when I got a
chance, and found the occupation of great help in
dispelling the melancholy which was settling down on
me. After a year or two of this sort of work, my
prospects at the Bar not improving, and the task of
prosecuting my fellow creatures for small offences at
Sessions becoming more and more hateful, I entertained

ISO START IN LIFE [VII.

the idea of giving up the law and going in for
art. Under the auspices of Edward Poynter, whose
acquaintance I had lately made, I was entered at the
South Kensington, and whenever I could do so without
interfering with my other work, I used to attend there
from ten to twelve.

During these years I used to go with my friend,
H. M. Lindsell, for a walking tour in the Isle of
Wight at Whitsuntide. We always ended by a stay
at Freshwater, where my old friend, Mrs. Cameron,
was still living. On one of these visits she took us to
a dance, at Mr. Tennyson's, at Farringford, where I
remember seeing the Poet Laureate joining vigorously
in the revels. He even condescended to "take the
floor" by dancing in a stately, almost elephantine
way, with a young damsel in a polka. It was, no
doubt, an interesting spectacle, to see an Olympian in
white kid gloves partaking of the amusements of
mankind. But I am not sure that I did not regret
having gone to that dance, which had much the same
effect upon me that the scenes in Lucian's " Dialogues
of the Gods" must have had upon a worshipper
of Zeus.

I think it was during this visit to Freshwater that I
was much impressed by Miss Annie Thackeray (now
Lady Ritchie) describing to us with enthusiasm the
musings of the Laureate called forth by the sight of
an old boot which had been washed up on to the
beach by the waves.

CHAPTER VIII
1876—1879

The Municipal Corporations Commission — My Diary — Varied
Occupations — Matthew Arnold — Opening of Parliament —
Archie Wortley— All Souls' Chapel— George Eliot— Balliol Club
— Norway — Copenhagen — Legros — Abbey Leix — Mr. Gladstone
— Chillingham — Gosford — Lord Ravensworth — Fitz's — Rock-
ingham — A Trying Moment.

IN the early part of 1876 I was appointed, through
my father's influence, to be secretary of the Royal
Commission on Municipal Corporations. The com-
mission had been obtained by the efforts of Sir C.
Dilke, and was to enquire into the existing state,
jurisdiction and revenues of over a hundred small
corporations in England and Wales, which had been
omitted from the Municipal Corporations Act, 1833.

Sir Lewis Cave was the chairman, Sir Montagu
Smith, Mr. Justice Archibald, Sir John Karslake,
Mr. Overend, Q.C., and on the death of Archibald,
Maule, Q.C., were the Commissioners. We had an
office in Victoria Street. The duties of the secretary
were to send out notices of meetings, to summon wit-
nesses and pay their expenses, to keep the minutes, to
forward proofs of the evidence to the witnesses for
correction, and to keep the accounts. Notices were
posted in the towns, advertisements inserted in the
local papers inviting anyone who wished to give
evidence to communicate with the Commissioners, and
a day was fixed for each enquiry, which began by the
examination of the Mayor and Town Clerk. The
examination in chief was mainly conducted by Sir

152 THE MUNICIPAL COMMISSION [VIII.

John Karslake, who, though blind, was, when the
Commission began, apparently of unabated mental and
bodily vigour, though towards the end of the time this
was far from being the case. Doubtless we were
fortunate in having a man of such capacity to take up
the work, but his condition added greatly to the duties
of the secretary, as I had to attend him before every
meeting, and coach him up in what each witness was
going to state, and afterwards to be with him when he
dictated the reports on the various places. The
enquiry was an interesting one, as many strange
customs still lingered in the small municipalities
among the "jurats," "ale-tasters," " swine drivers,"
and other old-world officials. Their revenues were
mostly small. On the whole there was little corrup-
tion, though in one or two places the lands were let at
a low rate to members of the corporations, and dinners
and small salaries to the officials were paid for out of
the income. The most serious blot that was brought
to light was the magisterial jurisdiction with which
many of these officials were invested ex-officio, and
which amounted in many cases to power of life and
death. But in practice all cases of importance were
sent before the ordinary tribunals.

In 1877 I began to keep a regular diary, from
which I propose to select so much as may perhaps
have some interest for others : events, stories, or
recollections of conspicuous or peculiar persons.
Here and there, it is true, the reader will find a bit
of description, as I feel that no autobiography of mine
would be complete without some hint of the worship
I have always had for things seen, which have brought
to me that study and solace which so many persons
find in music.

1876-79] MY DIARY 153

My story will, accordingly, consist henceforth to a
great extent of extracts from this record. There are
disadvantages and advantages in such a process, the
advantages being the greater accuracy and freshness
of the story, and the disadvantages the somewhat
jerky form of narrative compared with the continuous
flow of a narrative written from memory. I do not
propose always to preface these extracts by intro-
ductory remarks, or to connect them together, unless
where some introduction or explanation seems neces-
sary. I shall in most cases simply put down the
passages which I think of any interest in their order
of time.

For the ten years following this period until I left
the Bar, I had a good many small irons in the fire. I
was secretary to three Royal Commissions, and for
the last three years of the time a revising barrister. I
regularly went circuit and sessions, and did my Times
reporting in London so far as the demands of other
work permitted. I was also made an Examiner of the
Supreme Court, and counsel to the Mint on the
Durham and Northern Sessions. In addition to these
duties I worked a good deal at drawing, attending first
at the South Kensington and afterwards at the studio
of one Fitz, an American artist, of whom more anon.

I will now proceed to the extracts.

"Jan. 1 6, 1877. To Oxford, where there was a large
banquet given in the new hall at Balliol. The Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, Matthew Arnold, Dean Stanley
and others spoke. I think Arnold's speech interested
me the most. It was delivered with great self-confi-
dence, one might almost say self-enjoyment ; but his
superior air was so natural and unaffected, and he
seemed altogether such a 'brave gar$on,' to say
nothing of the excellence of the matter, that there was
no offence.

154 OPENING OF PARLIAMENT [VIII.

" Lunched at T. H. Green's, where was J. A.Symonds,
the author, a bright, agreeable man, a great contrast in
his manner to the grim, taciturn T. H.

"Jan. 24. Interviewed Poynter at the South Kensing-
ton Museum, where I was admitted as a student."

There was in those days a capital professor at the
South Kensington called Moody, who gave lectures
on figure drawing, which I found interesting. The
method of drawing employed was charcoal and stump,
with which we copied casts from the antique, or occa-
sionally the living model.

"Feb. 8. From the Home Office saw the Queen go
by to open Parliament. She rode in the glass coach.
There was no cheering or hissing. When she had
passed, Dr. Kenealy walked up the cleared space in a
proud manner, but only got a few derisive cheers.

"Feb. ii. Walked down to Wimbledon to see old
Stephenson (nephew of George Stephenson, the
inventor of the locomotive). He said that the pros-
perity of England compared with that of other nations
would soon decline, as railways were opening up
other countries, which would enjoy all the advantages in
that respect which have hitherto belonged to us alone."

About this time, when in London, I used generally
to go on Sunday mornings to Archie Wortley's studio
in King William Street. I had known Archie ever
since Sheen days, and he was in my house at Eton. I
think he was sufficiently out of the ordinary line for
me to attempt a sketch. Perhaps the most remarkable
part of him was his eye, which made him one of the
best shots in England, and a sort of amateur Millais in
painting. I do not suppose that anyone ever became
as good an artist as he was with so little preliminary
training. There seemed to be no interval between
his production of pen-and-ink caricatures, not par-
ticularly well done, and an oil painting of decided

1876-79] ARCHIE WORTLEY 155

merit, which I think was hung on the line by the
Academy. And even afterwards when he was painting
pictures, some of which showed considerable talent,
he never seemed to study at all, though his works
were in no sense " impressionist," but were remark-
able for fidelity and modelling. The success to which
he attained with so little effort gave him great confi-
dence in himself, and a proportionate disregard for
authority. Many a dispute did we have on the Old
Masters, for whom he had a scant respect. As a man
he was very attractive, and his cheerful, sunny
disposition, combined with a good deal of character,
resulted in his getting his own way with everybody,
and being one of the most popular of men in the
circles where he was known. These were limited, as
he soon gave up, except for shooting parties, what is
called general society, and lived mainly with artists
and actors, and the more Bohemian men about
London. I think his knack of getting everything he
wanted without trouble, combined with his natural
love of ease, rather took the edge off his energy, and
prevented his going as far as he might have done,
inclining him too much to be content with the homage
of his own clique. He was always in bed when I
went to King William Street about twelve o'clock, and
I used to pace up and down his bedroom in inter-
minable discussions on art.

"May 20. Inspected All Souls' Chapel, which
pleased me. It is severe but not poor. At one end
the fine reredos restored on the old pattern prevents
baldness, without the over-decoration which offends
in so many modern churches. The old Puritan spirit
is the right English spirit, and when joined to a love
of beauty, gives a satisfying religious symbol, which
this chapel appeared to be.

156 GEORGE ELIOT [VIII.

" To dinner at Jowett's ; among the company were
Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis, Sir C. Trevelyan and
Bradley (head of University).

" A hot discussion between Sir C. Trevelyan on the
one side and Jowett and Bradley on the other, as to
the Schliemann discoveries. Sir C. Trevelyan main-
tained that Schliemann quite agreed with immemorial
tradition both as to persons and places. Jowett and
Bradley were vague, but were not sure that Agamem-
non ever existed, or was ever buried, or that the
burial wasn't a myth. They also maintained that
while leading facts of Homer might be founded on
true tradition, the architectural details must be purely
imaginary.

"I was determined to have a talk with 'George
Eliot/ so taking advantage of the male hesitation in
leaving the dining-room, I bolted upstairs, not looking
back till I had landed myself beside her. She has a
noble face of the equine type, with fine grey eyes, not
large but deep-set thoughtful and kind. She asked if
I was a north countryman, saying that my stature
agreed with my being a Northumbrian, who were all
tall men. I felt flattered, but was afraid of showing
my weakness before such an analyst. She then
asked for a specimen of the dialect, which I gave her.
The talk next passed to circuit, which she said must
be interesting from the opportunity of hearing such a
variety of cases, and seeing so many types of humanity.
I answered that there was too much sameness about
the cases, and then went on to tell her how from my habit
of sketching in Court I was struck with the constant
reproduction of similar types of face and figure. She
said that the forms of Nature were really few. I
remarked how similarity of form was often accom-
panied by similarity of voice, movement and character.
We then got on to the effect of a peculiarity of speech
in conversation, and the part it played in arresting the
attention. She said that some men's talk always
seemed worth listening to, while others, who really
talked better, could obtain no hearing, and that one
reason why Scotsmen's talk often seemed more
intellectual, was in a great measure due to the effect
of their dialect in arresting attention, giving Carlyle
as an example. She remembered a ludicrous effect in

1876-79] GEORGE ELIOT 157

the conversation of the late Lord Lytton, who was
deaf, and who would go on murmuring for a time, and
then suddenly burst out for a sentence or two in a
very loud key. The English always dropped their
voices at the end of a sentence, and were much averse
to any other form of talk than a ttte-a-ttte, and in
illustration she pointed out all the various persons
tkte-a-ttting around us. Frenchmen had none of the
English snyness, which did not arise from superior
mental endowments, but from a peculiar sensibility to
outward surroundings, which an Englishman had not.
A Frenchman in conversation almost always repro-
duced in words the scene before him, or remarked
upon it, even to its most trivial details.

" I continued that I had not met many good talkers,
but thought Professor Owen the best I had heard.
She said he was a particularly charming talker, and
excelled greatly in narrative and description.

" We talked a good deal about the Professor, and she
asked if I was the son of a Mrs. Liddell, whom she
remembered Owen mentioning as a beautiful woman.
This shows she must have a good memory, as it must
have been said a long time ago.

" In talking about the Professor, I remarked what a
good reader he was and how (illustrating what she had
said a few moments before), his Lancashire accent
helped him. She said that Tennyson's reading was
greatly improved by his Lincolnshire pronunciation,
which had the good effect of making his vowels very
sonorous, the reverse of which was the usual defect of
English reading. I quoted ' mouthing out his hollow
oes and aes,' as to what Tennyson's own notion of
good reading was, which she seemed to think
apposite. She then spoke of the difference of Owen's
son to his father. I said he was a complete contrast.
She said that often was the case, and was going
on to talk of the connection between parents and
children, when her husband came up with Mr.
Spottiswoode, and I thought I ought to retire. I felt
that she had been very good-natured to talk so much
to an ' ordinary mortal,' and to look so kindly out of
her grey eyes. Spottiswoode began to talk to her of a
Frenchman who had solved theoretically the problem
of turning up and down motion into circular, the usual

158 BALLIOL CLUB [VIII.

method in vogue being only an approximation to the
theoretically perfect way. I could only hear now and
then scraps of the talk. They got on to ' spiral
vortices/ and then ' imaginary geometry,' after which
I understood not one word. George Eliot said she
supposed that this science consisted in a system of
reasoning from abstractions still purer than the
ordinary geometrical ones."

Shortly after leaving Oxford, as a good many of our
Balliol set were living in London, we formed a dining
society which met twice a year at the " Cheshire
Cheese." There we partook of a substantial meal and
venerated Dr. Johnson's tobacco-box, which was
always placed on the table after dinner. At one of
these dinners I remember rebuking the waiter for
giving us cold plates with our apple tart, and being
completely closed by his answering that " in good
society sweets were never served on hot plates." All
told, our society consisted of some thirteen or fourteen
souls, of whom a remarkable number attained to
eminence in the Civil Service. Arthur Godley became
head of the India Office, Henry Primrose of the Inland
Revenue, Kenneth Mackenzie of the Lord Chancellor's
office, ^nd Henry Lindsell was second secretary in the
Education Department. Of the non-civilians Farwell
became a Lord Justice, Theobald a Master in Lunacy,
Lord Jersey Governor of New South Wales and Lord
Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Reid Lord Chancellor of
Great Britain — not a bad record for a small group of
friends.

"July 21. To a party at Holland House. The Prince
of Wales there with his second son, a nice-looking
boy, dressed in a short jacket and broad collar, like an
Eton boy.

"July 24. Professor Owen dined. He told me that
they had found fish in the Challenger expedition

1876-79] NORWAY 159

living in the very deep sea, whose eyes had become
modified into a phosphorescent apparatus on the top
of their heads, which gave out light on excitement,
and attracted other creatures, on which they fed — a
curious instance of adaptation."

On July 28 I went with Edward Ridley to Norway,
where we had taken a fishing on the Nord Fjord.
After a stormy passage we arrived at Olden, which we
found was a little village at the mouth of a river,
which came down from a lake some five or six miles
up the valley. This valley was practically our
kingdom, as we had the fishing in the river and the
lake, and beyond a few small farms there were no
inhabitants, nor was it ever visited by the tourist.
High hills shut us in on both sides, one of which rose
into a snow peak. The lower parts of these were
wooded, and between them and the river were
terraces and flats of grass, strewn with boulders, or
having crags of grey rock emerging here and there.
At the head of the valley was a large glacier which
bred the river. The village of Olden was clustered
round the church, and contained no house of any size
but the one we inhabited, which was built entirely
of timber painted white, with a red roof. All the
interior fittings were of deal, and the beds were like
large wooden troughs.

Our fishing was on some two miles of river from a
waterfall to the sea, and was mostly carried on by
casting from the bank. The best part of the salmon
fishing was over when we arrived. On the other hand,
it was the season for the sea-trout in the two pools
near the sea, a fish which occasionally ran as large as
12 or 13 Ibs. We generally took the field about three
o'clock, when the sun got behind the western hills,

160 NORWAY [VIII.

and often went on till nine or ten in the evening. In
this sport we were attended by two natives, " Anders,"
the head fisherman, an excellent, steady man, though
nervous with the gaff; and a rather disreputable
shoemaker called " Halsten," who was taken on for
the season, and was a very capable person when
sober. The usual flies were Butcher, Jew, Durham
Ranger, Jock Scott, and Stevenson.

Another form of sport in which we occasionally
indulged was ryper shooting, the ryper being a bird
half grouse, half ptarmigan, which lived at high
altitudes in the sallow scrub. Ridley had brought a
dog out with us, but on the first occasion of our taking
the field we met a calf, which so frightened the animal
that he fled home as hard as he could go, and I do not
think we ever made much use of him.

Ryper shooting was far the hardest form of exercise
I have ever indulged in, no stalking coming near it in
the way of toil. To begin with, you had to ascend to
an altitude of three or four thousand feet before there
was a chance of seeing a bird, and when you got to
your ground the walking was of the roughest, over
huge stones and boulders, or often in woods where
most of the trees were lying on the ground smothered
in a tangle of undergrowth. Against these labours
was to be set the delight of lunching under the
shadow of some great boulder with an unlimited view
over the fjords winding among the wooded hills to the
sea, and the fjeld stretching inland, a vast waste of
granite covered with patches of snow and glacier.
With a bag of five or six birds we were quite content,
and they formed a most agreeable variety to our diet
of tinned meats and bacon.

Our establishment was a simple one. It consisted

1876-79] COPENHAGEN 161

of a red-cheeked, fair-haired native called "Anna,"
who was cook and housemaid. Anna was a very
sensitive young person, and on one occasion when I
found some fault with her cooking was so upset that
she was unable to attend the yearly Communion,
which took place a day or two after. I need hardly
say that I had been far from contemplating any such
result ; but as it was, I incurred a good deal of
reproach for my cruelty from Ridley.

Once in every three weeks a clergyman came to do
the service at the village church, and we always
entertained him afterwards, concocting a special feast
in his honour. The language of this reverend gentle-
man was polyglot, consisting of a few words of English
and a few of German, which cropped up now and then
in a rapid flow of Norwegian — like baulks in a flood.

After about a month at Olden the weather showed
signs of breaking, so we dismissed our establishment
and proceeded southwards in carrioles through the
splendid Romsdal Pass.

The carriole is a somewhat tedious method of
travelling, as it only holds one person, and it is
necessary to keep on smacking your lips for the whole
journey, or else the horse stands still; a most fatiguing
process to those unaccustomed to it.

After a day or two at Christiania we went on to
Copenhagen. At the circus in that capital we saw a
piece called " A Night in Calcutta," supposed to repre-
sent the Prince of Wales' recent visit to India. They
had made up a caricature of H.R.H. with a beard and
stomach, who went about touching his hat with great
solemnity. He was accompanied by two " Lords "
with Dundreary whiskers, dressed in red coats and
hunting caps. He interviewed native princes, beheld

L.L. M

i62 BRADLAUGH AND MRS. BESANT [VIII.

native dances, and finally pursued some lions with a
long spear. The lions were made up of two boys
each, whose movements were not always harmonious,
so that one expected to hear the hind legs say to the
fore " Damn it, can't you get on ? " as in Byron's stage
elephant.

For the rest of this year there is a hiatus in the
diary, and I find nothing further to record until

"Jan. 31, 1878. Went to the Court of Appeal to
see Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant. She is rather sleek-
looking, goodish brow and eyes, but a common face.
I listened for some time to her argument, which was
distinctly good both in matter and manner. Brad-
laugh has a fine head and looks a very powerful man,
rather of the cut of a great Roman Catholic priest.

"Feb. 8. With the Grahams to Legros' studio
at London University. A sombre landscape and
some other pictures m a very naturalistic style, all
dark, strong and sad. Saw him take a print off an
etching."

1 had made the acquaintance of Legros at Strathallan,
a shooting rented by William Graham, in the autumn
of this year, and had found him an original and
interesting man. He expressed a wish, when staying
there, to take the opportunity of being initiated into
the mysteries of English field sports. Accordingly
one morning he descended the stairs in his usual black
clothes and wide-awake finished off by a pair of his
host's gaiters, snapping his fingers, and shouting
" Tous les petits oiseaux auront peur de moi." When
we took the field he began by carrying his gun muzzle
downwards as if it were a walking-stick. Mr. Graham
explained to him how the weapon was to be used and
carried, and he took his station in the line next to his
preceptor. There was not much competition for the

1876-79] LEGROS 163

place on the other side of the enterprising novice, but
my curiosity led me to occupy it. And it turned out
to be perfectly safe, as he carried his gun at half-cock
and held it in front of him, the muzzle at an angle of
45 degrees from the ground. After a time a
capercailzie was seen, and our host led the would-be
sportsman towards him. The bird seemed quite to
understand the situation, as he allowed us to get
within 50 yards of him, when Mr Graham directed
Legros to fire. The artist cocked his gun and,
presenting arms, discharged it with great care at the
same angle at which he had been carrying it, and,
needless to say, produced no effect on the capercailzie.
Afterwards until lunch, when he left us, he was too
cautious to open fire again.

Not content with his gunning experience, Legros
insisted the next day on being taken out fishing. He
was accordingly set down in the stern of one of the
harling-boats opposite to a rod. After a time a fish
took his fly. Remembering the instructions of
yesterday, he jumped up, and pressing the butt of the
rod to his shoulder, held it in the position of a gun.
The boatmen were paralysed with astonishment, but
on recovering themselves exhorted him with shouts of
"Row mon," "Row," "Gie him the butt," hastily
translated for the sportsman's benefit by Miss Graham.
" Roulez Monsieur, roulez," " II faut toujours presenter
le bout de la machine au poisson." I need hardly say
that after a few moments of the wildest confusion the
fly came back.

The same ardour which led the French artist into
these adventures induced him on another occasion, to
accompany me in the ascent of one of the hills in the
neighbourhood. His own account of the venture was,

M 2

164 IRELAND [VIII.

that after superhuman efforts he sat down and called
out to me " J'y renonce," to which all I said was "Je
vais continuer," and went on in my upward career.
But I think this must have been a story framed on an
a priori view of the English character.

On June 8th of this year I paid my first visit to
Ireland, going to Abbey Leix House in Queen's County,
the home of Lady De Vesci, the sister of my friend
Franco Charteris. It was a very wet Whitsuntide in
Ireland, which, together with the natural and moral
tristesse of the island, produced a depression in me
which I have never quite succeeded in shaking off
when I cross the St. George's Channel.

" June 9. Ireland strikes one chiefly from its rank-
ness and generally unkempt look, as if Nature were
getting the better of man, though the actual demesne
of Abbey Leix is pretty and well kept, and the house
very comfortable. But the country between the
' seats ' of the gentry is bare and forlorn, with few
trees ; and the seats themselves often show evidence
of poverty. For instance, it is not uncommon to see
the ploughed land running close up to a house, or a
pair of fine stone gateposts with a gate between them
constructed of hurdles and string.

"June 20. Dined at W. Graham's. Mr. Gladstone
there. As it was a hot night, the windows were open,
and his presence soon became known to the ' man in
the street/ resulting in a crowd of admirers hanging
on to the area railings, and staring into the room.

" After dinner he talked on the drink question. I was
much disappointed at first in the absence of that charm
of speech and manner which I had expected, also his
accent was provincial. But in a minute or two he
warmed up, and was like a thunderclap, rjtrrpairT e/Spdimjo-'.
He said that drunkards were often the best sort of
men in a place, and that free trade in drink was the
only thing. I am not quite sure as to this expression, but
I understood him to mean abolition of licenses. He
thought that the Gothenburg plan might be worked

1876-79] GOSFORD 165

in Birmingham, where intelligence was high, but not
in most places ; that the present system in England,
supported by the influence of the brewers, who were
all large capitalists, might have been ' devised ' by
the devil himself."

This autumn I paid the first of many visits to
Chillingham, a beautiful old castle finely situated
above the vale of the Till, looking on to the range of
the Cheviot. It was the type of an old border castle
of rugged grey stone, some of its buildings being said
to date from King John's time. Part of the garden
was in a great walled enclosure into which cattle used
to be driven when the Scots made a raid. In the
park were the celebrated wild cattle, the remains of
a race which at one time peopled the whole of the
north of our islands.

This month was also memorable as the date of my
first visit to the Gosford country in Haddingtonshire,
destined to be a sort of second home and happy play-
ground for so many years. My first introduction to
Gosford was from Luffness, where I was staying with
old Mrs. Hope, the mother of my friend, Edward
Hope.

At Gosford there were in those days two houses,
one an old-fashioned Scottish building in which they
lived, the other a huge shell, the walls of which had
been completed in 1800. The owner for some reason
took a dislike to it, and persuading himself that dry
rot had got into the stone pulled down the wings,
leaving a centre consisting of three enormous rooms,
with offices below and bedrooms above. This gloomy
pile stood between the old house and the Firth of
Forth, shutting out one of the finest views in Great
Britain, comprising the Pentlands, Arthur's Seat, the

166 AGAIN AT RAVENSWORTH [VIII.

smoke and buildings of Edinburgh and its suburbs,
and the whole length of the coast of Fife. Lord
Wemyss was then about 80, but his massive frame
still had traces of the powers which had brought him
renown. He took me to see Lady Wemyss, who to
keep off the draughts was seated in a sort of pen made
of glass screens, one side of which was opened in
order to allow me to pay my respects. She was very
small, but had a finely-cut face, a feminine likeness of
her eldest son.

After the Northumberland Sessions I resumed my
visits to Ravensworth for the first time since the death
of my Uncle Henry. His successor was "Harry";
who, though my first cousin, really belonged to
my father's generation and had been brought up
with him. Nature, though she had given him a
marked individuality, had not endowed him with the
genial temperament of his father's family. He was a
hard-working man who had got together a good deal
of information from blue books and literature of that
type, but he had no wide outlook on life or knowledge,
and though he prided himself on being practical, had
many somewhat archaic prejudices. Thus he never
would open a telegram, but always sent it to his agent.
As an instance of his industry, he used generally to
retire to his room after tea and translate a passage of
Scott's novels into French. I do not think that he had
many intimate friends of his own class, but the was
popular with the classes below him, and , got on
specially well with aldermen and persons of that type,
who abounded in Newcastle, where he was a well-
known figure. He did not devote himself to county
work in any special degree, but was a most industrious
M.P., never failing to answer a letter, and had a good

1876-79] FITZ'S 167

reputation in Parliament, where he was looked upon
as an authority in North Country matters, specially
shipping. Though he had few guests at Ravensworth,
he always received me kindly when I proposed myself,
and we only once had a quarrel, which he made up
handsomely.

However, I do not think that I should have gone to
Ravensworth so often had it not been for Lady
Ravensworth, a clever and accomplished woman,
whose society made even that grim dwelling attractive.

" 1879. Skated at Richmond Park. When we left off
heard that Ham Common was on fire. Went to the
ridge above the Ham Gate and looked down on it. A
most splendid sight, as it was now dark, like looking
down into the Inferno."

In March this year I joined a drawing-class at Fitz's,
an American artist who had been educated in Munich,
and whose studio I attended, whenever I could get the
time, for some two years. He had an accurate eye,
but was not a real artist, and set more importance on
" valeurs " than on beauty or character. I do not think
that he had a good influence on my drawing, as he led
me to distrust my instincts, and think more of lights
and half-tones than the general distribution of
chiaroscuro or the beauty of line, all of which impaired
my natural power of catching likeness.

"July 23. To Rockingham Castle, a fine old building
on a low hill looking over the rolling grass lands of
Northants. Part of the House built in King John's
time. The garden full of splendid yew hedges, cut
into shapes of birds and beasts. Visited Kirby, a
place belonging to the Winchelseas, but all falling into
ruins. It is said to be the o/x^oAos of England, and that
it was intended, in the event of Napoleon effecting
a landing in 1802, that George III. should have been
taken there for safety.

i68 A TRYING MOMENT [VIII.

"Aug. 15. To Beckenham. Miss Graham drove us
all behind a somewhat spirited pair of horses to
Shirley Common. While the tea was preparing a rug
was thrown over the steeds, and I mounted on the box
of the carriage and began to sketch, Miss Graham
standing at the heads of the animals, when, suddenly,
her shawl flapped in the wind. They were frightened
and bolted, knocking her over, going right through the
fire which had been lit, and sending the kettle flying.
I fell into the box, and for a moment lost my head.
But coming to myself, I got up and, clutching the
reins, contrived to turn the horses, who were rushing
down hill towards a gravel pit, and managed after a
time to stop them. No harm was done, except that
Miss Graham was bruised, and the kettle, being spilt,
we had no tea."

CHAPTER IX
1879

Braunfels — The Forstmeister — Social life — German Dignity —
Education — Fashions — Billetting — A " Bier " at the Schloss —
Sedan Dinner — An Ober-Punch — Sketching — The Chase —
Deer — Partridge Shooting — Our Dogs.

1879. As the Commission was to resume its sittings
at an early date, I was not able to take a long holiday
this year, so bethought me of an offer which I had had
the year before of an introduction which would give
me a glimpse of German life and sport. The introduc-
tion was to be to the Forstmeister of a German prince
who had a large estate in the country. Accordingly I
was put into communication with this gentleman, and
it was arranged that I should become an inmate of his
house at Braunfels. Braunfels was a small town
clustered round a fine old castle which crowned a hill
in the valley of the Lahn, looking like the background
of an Albert Diirer. The owner of the castle and
some 20,000 acres of the surrounding territory was
Prince Solms of Braunfels, whose ancestors had been
independent princes, but had been mediatised at the
beginning of the present century.

Accordingly, towards the end of August I found
myself at the little station of Braunfels. The Forst-
meister met me, and turned out to be a tall, gentleman-
like looking man, clothed in the universal suit that
does duty in Germany for our endless sporting attires,
short grey cloth jacket with a strap at the back, green
collar and buckshorn buttons, waistcoat and trousers

1 70 SOCIAL LIFE [IX.

to match. His house was within the enceinte of the
castle, between the inner citadel which was inhabited
by the princely family, and the town. Round the
highest side of the hill was a wide terrace, com-
manding a view of the rolling forest country, into
which the cultivated valleys ran like fjords. Here
dwelt in dignified ease a row of fine old brass cannons,
their barrels crowned with garlands of flowers, leaves
and heraldic devices, and bearing inscriptions such
as : "I am the mouse," " I am the hedge-sparrow,"
" Let the good cause triumph."

Society at Braunfels was mainly composed of
members of the prince's " Ministerium," a relic of
the days when the principality was an independent
state. These worthies, headed by the Hof-Marschal,
who was President, all had little whitewashed
bureaus in a small house standing in the precincts
of the Schloss. There were also certain other officials
with recognised positions, but not bureaus, such as
the Furstlicher-Ober-Medicinal Rath, and the Hof-
Apotheker. My FOrstmeister presided over the
" woods and forests," with the assistance of several
Ober-Forsters, each of whom had a district of his
own within which he looked after the timber and
game, and a staff of Forsters under him, half-keepers,
half-woodmen. I do not think that I ever met with an
" Unter " of any kind in the flesh, though I did hear
one day of an " Under-hedgehog-hunter " in a remote
part of the Wald, who was supposed to have seen a
covey of partridges.

These dignitaries all addressed each other by their
titles rather than by their ordinary names. The use
of a surname was consequently rare in Braunfels, and
still more the familiar employment of the Christian

i879] GERMAN CHARACTERISTICS 171

name. This was of a piece with the prevailing
formality, shown in the severity of the laws relating
to the wearing of black coats, and the incessant taking
off of hats.

It is no doubt easy to cast a good deal of ridicule on
the formal side of German life, but I am not sure that
it is not closely bound up with that earnestness which
is the secret of German success. A man with a definite
status and title, the recognition of which is not con-
fined to business hours, feels that he has an honourable
position to keep up, however small his salary; and
although he may be pompous in his work, he is not
slovenly. The gulf that separates a " Fiirstlicher-
Ober-Medicinal-rath " from a country doctor may not
be without benefit to the patients of the former.

Another feature of Braunfels society that was
equally striking and more admirable was the high
standard of education prevailing among the men. As
an instance of this diffusion of knowledge, I may say
that the waiter at the inn on Saturday afternoons gave
lessons in arithmetic. Nearly all the men I met in
society could talk French and Latin, and many of them
English. On the other hand, I sometimes doubted
whether the education of the rising generation was
not being overdone. Such pale tadpoles as many of
them were, with listless ways and few games, they
looked as if the stalwart Teutonic physique of their
fathers was being sacrificed in the cause of knowledge.

I very soon made the acquaintance of the notables
of Braunfels, owing to its being the custom for all the
male society of the town who had any recognised
position to attend in a large shed attached to the prin-
cipal inn every morning for the purpose of consuming
beer, and discussing things in general. This assembly

i72 FASHIONS [IX.

met every day about 11.30, and disclosed a capacity for
swallowing malt liquor quite astonishing to an English-
man, especially as it was a preface to the chief meal of
the day, which took place at 12.

Of the ladies of the place I saw but little, there
being no dances in the summer, and the fair sex
seeming to confine themselves to a sort of female
soiree, called a " Frauen-Geschellschaft." They most
of them had fine hair, but few other outward attrac-
tions. As to the standard of taste and dress, there
was a considerable likeness between the fashions and
those prevailing in England at the beginning of the
late Queen's reign. In support of this view I would
instance the black coat ceremonies, the fondness for
that horrible form of clothing called white ducks, the
absence of tweed stuffs and loose garments like
shooting jackets and knickerbockers, the prevalence
among the ladies of large bonnets and sausage curls,
and a simplicity almost amounting to childishness in
matters of taste and art.

It is true that our connection with the outside world
was not in those days extensive. The old Kingly-
Imperial post-wagon deposited occasional tourists,
and now and then there was an invasion of the
military in the shape of an " Einquartierung," or billet-
ing. One of these took place a day or two after my
arrival, the invaders consisting of forty or fifty officers
on a staff ride under a scientific colonel. These
armed students rode into the market place one morning
about ten, having started at daybreak from their last
halting place. Before 5 p.m. they were expected to
show up a paper treating their day's route and its sur-
roundings from a military point of view. The officer
quartered in our house was a stout, commonplace

1 879] A "BIER" AT THE SCHLOSS 173

looking young fellow, with a tight waist. He at once
entered his bedroom, and ordered two " beef steaks
and potatoes " in succession, after which, I was
informed, he divided his time between sleeping and
writing till the dinner hour, when he joined his com-
rades at the large room at the inn. On another
occasion we had a corporal from a light cavalry
regiment and two horses on their way from the
manoeuvres. These last visitors came in from their
day's march about four, and in a short space of time
all the men had off their duty uniforms, and in their
nankeen fatigue dresses were grooming their horses
outside their billets. Later on they might be seen
striding about the town and Schloss, with clusters of
little Braunfelsers hanging on to their great hands,
and piloting them about the place. Uncouth fellows
with good, kindly faces, they looked thoroughly a
proles mascula, versare glebas docta ligombus.

When I had been at Braunfels a few days the Ftirst
returned from the " Orionhaus," his shooting-lodge in
the forest, and the same night bade us to a " Bier " at
the castle.

On arriving there we were received by a servitor in
a coat of Frederick the Great's cut, who led the way
up a winding stone staircase. The dusty old walls
were covered with antlers of every size and shape,
from the branching antlers of the " hoch wild, " or
great game, to the tiny forks of the roe-deer fawns.
Antlers followed us off the staircase, through an
antechamber and into a long room with rough oak
rafters crossing the ceiling, and small windows like
embrasures for cannon piercing the thick walls. Here
the forest of horns took some order, being arranged in
various patterns round several pictures of the chase,

174 A "BIER" AT THE SCHLOSS [IX.

the largest of which represented the late Fiirst's
favourite retriever bringing in a fox. A fox holds
something of the same position in the German world
of sport as a woodcock does with us, and I was often
told with pride that the owner of the retriever had
slain 1,700 of these animals during his life on earth.
But to go back to our banqueting hall. On one of two
large tables appeared wine and meats, while round
the other were gathered the Furst and his guests.

Our host sat at the head of the board in a colossal
chair of faded leather studded with nails. By his
side was a bucket containing some half dozen bottles
of beer in ice, which were passed when wanted to
the guests who sat round the table, all smoking
cigars or long cherry-stick pipes. After the usual
interchange of courtesies, I found myself seated by
the colossal chair, while a Dachshund of great size
and comeliness lay watching me with suspicion. The
conversation was lively among the guests themselves,
though they did not often volunteer remarks to
" Durchlaucht " at the head of the table. However,
the great man was good-natured enough, cracking his
jokes with, and often upon, the various officers ; and
talking with the foreign guest about England, to which
land he was most partial. He told me that in his
youth he had served in the Hanoverian army, where
many traces of the old connection with us still existed.
His regimental mess possessed several tankards and
other mementoes given them by English regiments
with whom they had served. It was also the custom
to call the officer who in Germany is styled " Haupt-
mann " by the British title of " Captain." These feasts
always terminated when the bell on the battlements
struck ten.

1879] SEDAN DINNER 175

During the night the passage of time was recorded
in a pleasingly mediaeval fashion by a watchman, who
called out every hour " Meine Herrn — ist geschlagen,"
at the same time giving three whistles — a custom
somewhat destructive of slumber to a stranger.

A few days after the entertainment described above
the anniversary of Sedan occurred, and I was bidden
to a feast in the town. There, at 5 o'clock, I found all
the notables assembled in the large room attached to
the inn. About twenty were present besides ourselves
including both the Kreis-Richter and the Ober-Pfarrer
(clergyman). Most of these, as regards their outward
man, fell readily into the Crown Prince or Bismarck
type. They looked, as a rule, alarmingly learned, had
tremendous physiques, though rather fleshy, and
mostly wore double eyeglasses.

I sat between my host and Kreis-Richter No. 2 (the
Deputy County Court Judge), a young gentleman of
about twenty-eight, who had lately passed his
examination for a judgeship, and made many enquiries
about legal affairs in England. He was mainly struck
with the amount of advocates' fees, and the practice of
appointing judges only from among barristers in good
practice.

Although the room in which we dined was far
better than it would have been in England, I do not
think the dinner was. By 8 o'clock I was wearied,
chiefly from the great mental strain of attempting to
explain our legal procedure to the Kreis-Richter in
limited German, helped by adaptations from Justinian,
pronounced as if they were French, so I was not sorry
when we took our leave.

On my way home I soon forgot the " perfection of
common sense" in the contemplation of a Puppen-

176 AN OBER-PUNCH [IX.

Theater (Marionettes) that was performing for the
benefit of the children of Braunfels. There a sort
of large Punch (an Ober-Punch ?) was hammering Judy
with an animus that had not changed by crossing
the sea. His ferocity apparently rather awed the
timid little spectators, for the showman was obliged
to beg them to laugh oftener, in order to attract the
public, which they did at intervals, in volleys, with a
very strange effect. I doubted whether our rising
generation could have been so easily organised.

My time at Braunfels was mainly given to reading
German, sketching and sport. The place abounded in
" bits " among the picturesque old walls, gates and
houses within the enceinte of the Schloss. In con-
sequence of my efforts sketching became quite the
fashion among the youthful population, who might be
seen seated on stools with the little wooden colour
boxes supplied in the schools, and pieces of paper of
the most various kinds, endeavouring to imitate the
Englander.

No account of Braunfels would be complete without
some mention of sport, which played a large part in
the life of the place. With the Lord of the Schloss it
amounted almost to a profession. The princely
hunting ground was the " Wald " that surrounded
Braunfels on three sides, consisting of woods of beech,
oak, and fir, intersected by a few roads, and grass
rides innumerable.

At the time of year (September) when I was at
Braunfels, the Fiirst confined his efforts almost entirely
to the deer forest par excellence, a tract of wood
measuring some twelve miles round, fenced with a high
paling of split timber. Here dwelt the " Hoch-wild,"
a red deer much like our Scottish stag, only somewhat

1 879] THE CHASE 177

more developed. The chase of the Hoch-wild is
surrounded with a good deal of pomp, no one being
allowed to follow it but the great man himself, or
persons specially invited. The difficulties and dis-
comforts, also, are lessened as much as possible.
Every glade of any size has one or more curious
timber structures called Hoch-sitze, consisting of a
small chamber raised some 20 feet from the ground.
These erections usually stand near the edges of the
glades, but the approach to them is always carefully
masked by bushes or hedges contrived for the purpose.
Passing between these screens, the adventurous
Jager reaches the Hoch-sitze by mounting a covered
staircase lined with thick felt. His exertions are now
over, as he has nothing more to do but pot the beasts
when they come out to feed. Besides these recep-
tacles, various other facilities are offered to the
sportsman, such as masked paths leading to likely
openings, loopholed ramparts, or small embrasures
of horn-beam commanding the ordinary haunts of the
game.

The less strictly preserved " Wald " only held
game of a lower order such as roes, hares and foxes.
It did, however, occasionally produce a wild boar,
and one was shot during my stay. The fierce corpse
was laid out on the old stone steps leading to the
FOrst's apartments, and was as fat as butter,
weighing just sixteen stone, though considerably
mauled about the hind-quarters by the bullets of his
destroyer.

Outside the " Wald " the cultivated ground descended
in broad slopes unbroken by hedge or copse to the
water-meadows which filled the bottoms, vast
expanses of stubble and plough, varied by strips and

L.L. N

HUHNER-JAGD [IX.

patches of turnips, beans, and vetches. This territory
was the haunt of the " Huhner," as the German style
the partridge, much as we call them " birds." Acting
on the advice of my host I had brought my gun,
causing much concern to the Custom-house officials,
who passed on the various parts from hand to hand,
evidently doubting whether, when united, they would
form an ordinary fowling-piece or a weapon destined
for political purposes. I had also ordered two
hundred cartridges in Coblentz, but the horror and
wonder of the shopman as he gasped out "Zwei
hundert " so opened my eyes to the prospects of sport
that I came down at once to fifty. Having stowed
these in a yellow leather bag lined with pink and
white stripes, and showing a large patch of hair on
the outside, I felt fully equipped for the " Htihner-
jagd."

During my stay at Braunfels I went out shooting
on several occasions with varying and sometimes
with no success. It will be enough if I give the
reader a description of one of the most typical of
these hunts, which was also the first in which I
participated.

Our rendezvous was a large farm called " Kloster-
berg." As our " Einspanner " turned into the farm-
yard, I was struck by the amount of work going on
within its limits.

In the whole scene the only idle persons were two
men in grey and green, and a sturdy youth leaning
against a low wall in an attitude, with a dead partridge
arranged on his arm, as if he were going to be
photographed. The men in grey were Forsters, the
youth was a student, a son of the pastor of the place,
who, having had the luck to shed blood on his way to

1879] A DAY AFTER PARTRIDGES 179

the rendezvous, was determined that his skill should
not pass unnoticed by the English stranger. The
Forsters as well as the youth carried light, roughly-
made muzzleloaders, fastened over the shoulder by a
strap, and game bags with a strip of network on the
outer side. The party was completed by two
astonishing dogs. One of these went by the name of
" Lambo," the German equivalent to " Ponto."

Emerging from the farmyard we found ourselves
launched on one of those vast districts of tilth which
I have described above. Meanwhile " Lambo " and
his companion set to work at quasi-military words of
command, and though slow, manoeuvred with great
precision, wheeling or standing at ease in corn or
turnips as became well-drilled German dogs. I
confess I should have been glad to see them cover
more ground, even at the risk of a little wildness, the
vastness of our field of operations and the scarcity of
the quarry giving our quest something of the
" needle-in-the-stack-of-hay " character.

Time, however </>vei r'aSqAa, and will discover even
a German partridge, and at length, during a temporary
separation from the student, my arm was jogged by
one of the Forsters, and I saw two Hiihner scuttling
up a little mound before us. Not yet broken to do at
Rome as the Romans do, I was quite unable to
massacre these innocents, and, to the disgust and anger
of my companions, the pair disappeared in safety over
the ridge. I must say that by the time I left Braunfels
I should as soon have thought of sparing a running
partridge as a standing stag in the Highlands.

However, I was soon able to clear my character.
Out of a small strip of corn rose a small covey within
easy distance, two of which dropped. The effect was

N 2

i8o A DAY AFTER PARTRIDGES [IX

an instantaneous reaction in my favour. The student
leapt about, shouting "Donner und Wetter," and
laughing wildly. The two Forsters talked at the top
of their voices, employing the universal German
adjuration, while they hung the quarry to the little
strips of net on their game bags.

When quiet was in some degree restored we pro-
ceeded on our course, and following up the covey, I
got another, and the student blew a fourth unfortunate
from the muzzle of his " flinte."

This great success, for we had not been walking
more than two hours, apparently exhausted the fauna
of the country and our own luck, for we did not see
another feather. " Lambo " at one time raised our
hopes by standing at ease without the word of
command, but the game turned out to be a butterfly.
In answer to my smile, his master remarked that he
" had an all-embracing intelligence, but was young and
tervid."

At mid-day we came to an anchor under some
cherry trees, an oasis, though without water, in our
Sahara. The Forsters had previously procured a very
large pitcher of beer from the next village, for which
I offered to pay, but this suggestion was indignantly
refused. I afterwards found that no FSrster would
accept a tip except with the greatest reluctance, a bit
of independence that contrasted well with the habits
of English keepers in that respect.

On the conclusion of our repast the student informed
me that the younger FOrster was a poet of great
repute, and suggested that I should ask for a recita-
tion. This I did, and this sporting Amyntas proceeded
to recite a long ballad of an irregular metre, which
described the successes of a gay young Forster in the

1 8/9] THE DOGS 181

chase and in love, the first being connected with a
" colossal bock," and the second with divers fair
damsels.

After an unsuccessful afternoon we got back to
Klosterberg, where we were received by the farmer,
who seemed a sort of squireen. As soon as we
appeared all the party adjourned into the house for
coffee, which was handed round by our host's
daughters. At length our " Einspanner " was
announced, and after the inevitable glass of wine, we
drove off amid a prodigious amount of removing of
hats and polite speeches from our kind host and his
friends.

Perhaps sporting readers may like to know my best
day after the Hiihner. It happened on another part
of the Klosterberg farm, when six or seven guns
destroyed seventeen " Stuck." (Hiihner are not
counted by the brace in Germany — a significant cir-
cumstance.) My worst " Jagd " was one Wachtel-
Konig (a sort of quail), two guns ; on another occasion
we got one hare with the same strength.

Before quitting this part of the subject I must say a
word about the dogs at Braunfels. The animals who
accompanied us on the " jagd " were generally the
property of the Forsters or Ober-Forsters, and were
to the English eye referable to the " genus heraldic "
rather than to any extant class. I say to the English
eye, because after a short residence at Braunfels I
became aware that many types of the animal which I
considered purely decorative had a recognised
existence on the Continent. The fact was that the
Fiirst was a great dog-fancier, and possessed a kennel
containing 120 inmates. A most elaborate affair it
was, a terrace of rustic-looking little huts on the edge

182 THE DOGS [IX.

of the forest, each with its enclosed patch of grass in
front, through which ran a stream of water in a stone
gutter. This collection comprised every variety of
dog — from such unfamiliar shapes as the great spotted
Austrian boarhounds and the French griffons, to the
common Gordon setter and Irish spaniel. Besides the
collection at the kennels, a colony of " dachs " lived at
the Schloss, black-and-tan, liver-coloured, or dappled
like fox-hounds. These last were beautiful, and I
believe rare. They were said to have an hereditary
feud with the black species, and I have often seen
them sweeping round the old courts in full cry after
my host's terrified pet " Teufel. " There was also an
aged veteran of the genus " griffon, " an unfinished
woolly shape, with a head like a gargoyle, who
frequented the kitchen court, and occasionally took the
field, being, in spite of his age and slowness, the best
nose on the estate.

CHAPTER X
1879—1881

Return home — Sir J. Karslake — The Hardwicke — The Bar again —
Curious Cases — Greek Play — Bowen's Politeness — Stanway —
Lochinch — Scott- Russell — Sandringham — Matthew Arnold —
Abolition of old Courts — Burton on Carlyle — A. Barratt —
A Murder Defence — The Glamis Ghost — The British
Association-Affaric — Arndilly — Access to Mountains — Wilton —
G. Pembroke.

FATE did not allow me a long stay in these new
surroundings, for at the end of September I received
a telegram from Sir John Karslake which made it
necessary to return home, which I did at once. Sir
John's health had greatly deteriorated in the last two
years, and he had now become very irritable and
difficult. It can be easily understood what it must
have been for a man of his mental powers to feel that
he was failing, and how natural it was for one who
had always dominated his fellows by his capacity to
endeavour to keep up his position by violence as his
powers gradually weakened. For the rest of the year
I had to witness some painful scenes at his house or
at the Commission, when he endeavoured to make
himself intelligible and had to be humoured as much
as possible in order to get on with our report.

Between my return from my holiday and Christmas
I had a good deal on my hands. The Commissioners
were preparing their general report, and the numerous
special reports on the different boroughs, under the
difficulties I have mentioned, When I could get

1 84 THE HARDWICKE [X.

away from these duties I did my reporting for the
Times, or went to the drawing class at Fitz's.

I had also joined the Hardwicke Debating Society
about a year before this, whose meetings I constrained
myself to attend now and then, always going through
tortures beforehand. My first oration had been in
favour of abolition of the action of " Breach of
Promise," and was a very wild and rambling affair.
The society was at that time dominated to a great
extent by some able Irishmen practising at the Old
Bailey, whose taste and general tone were uncongenial
to me, though I could not deny their ability. After
abandoning this hateful pursuit for some months, I
took it up again this autumn, attending pretty
regularly. I remember speaking in favour of Pro-
tection, and of the " Disestablishment of the English
Church," but my feeling on both the subjects was
purely academic, and my reasoning torn to rags by
one of the orators above mentioned.

The Commissioners signed their report early in the
New Year, 1879, and I arranged to take chambers
with Maule, Q.C., in Crown Office Row, leaving
sorrowfully No. 6, Old Palace Yard, where I had
spent two pleasant years. After the occupation and
interest of the Commission I found the wearisome
idleness of the Bar very distasteful, and had serious
thoughts of giving up the profession, where I felt I
should never succeed, and of taking to Art. Indeed,
I think I should certainly have done so had I felt sure
that I was properly qualified. About my love for
Art I had no doubt, but I knew enough to be aware
that, although I could reproduce fairly what I saw, I
had really no power of ensuring artistic effect, which
J only got at rare intervals and by accident. My

1 879-8 1] THE DANDY AND HIS TAILOR 185

father was very good to me, when I told him how I
felt, and to my surprise discussed the project of
taking to Art quite calmly, though he was opposed
to it.

I had taken up my Times reporting again on the
cessation of the Commission, and I remember in this
Spring reporting rather a curious case. There was a
well-known dancing man in society, without whom no
ball was complete. One morning I saw him appear as
a defendant in an action which turned out to have
been brought against him by his tailor for the price of
a Court dress. The defence was that the price was
excessive, the bill for the coat having amounted to
£120, and the cost price being about £80. In answer
to this the tailor said that the gold oak leaves and
other ornamental work on the garment required
especially skilled workmen, who were not easy to
get, and whom it was therefore necessary for him to
retain in his employ, whether he had work for them or
not. He also by way of prejudice maintained that
the defendant had ordered a coat of one class higher
than he was entitled to wear. When the time came
to go to the jury, the counsel for the exquisite, who
was an Irishman endowed with a most fluent tongue,
made a moving speech. His client happened also to
be an amateur artist, and had attained some celebrity
in those Philistine days by having a picture in the
Royal Academy. The counsel, owing to some
mistake, or because he had nothing else to say, chose
to depict this child of luxury as a " paur struggling
artist," to the astonishment of his friends, and rather
to the disgust of the defendant himself, whose face
was a study when he found himself so unexpectedly
lowered in the social scale. I need hardly say that

1 86 "CONTRA BONOS MORES" [X.

the jury were not taken in by this view, and found for
the tailor in spite of the largeness of his bill.

As a general rule there was not much colour or
picturesqueness in the cases which I had to report,
but now and then the law unveiled strange corners of
human affairs.

I remember about this time an instance of this in a
case which was tried before Hawkins, who had lately
been made a Judge.

The action was by a blind man, a collector of curios,
against a watchmaker for the recovery of a watch said
to be of great value, the work of some celebrated
French maker of the i8th century. On the back
of this article being opened a couple were discovered
making love in a very pronounced fashion, an abbe
looking in at them through a window and taking off
his hat at each embrace. The plaintiff had sent the
watch for repair, and could not get it back from the
defendant. Hawkins, rather to the surprise of every-
one, refused to try the case, on the ground that it was
contra bonos mores for the Courts to assist in the
recovery of such an indelicate piece of goods, so the
plaintiff lost his property.

While on legal topics I may say that in February
this year I received the first of several briefs to appear
in the Divorce Court on behalf of the Queen's Proctor.
As may be supposed, I was rather alarmed at the first
plunge into a new Court and a new line of business.
The cases as a rule were of a most unromantic
character, the parties being mostly commercial
travellers and barmaids.

About this time the acting of a Greek play, with the
chorus set to modern music, which has since become
so popular, was started by some Oxford amateurs,

1 879-8 1] STAN WAY 187

"June ii. Went with Lady Elcho to Eton to see the
Agamemnon acted by an Oxford company. Dined at
Warre's. The play in the College Hall, very interest-
ing. The chorus chanted in a sort of Gregorian
strain. The scene of the murder very dramatic, stage
a little narrow, but on the whole well done, specially
the part of Clytemnestra, by one of the Bensons.

"July 12. Newcastle Assizes. Bowen in the Crown
Court. The Oxford politeness occasionally a little
comic. A man was being tried for murdering his
wife, and was defending himself. He kept on cross-
examining the witnesses as to what they had had for
breakfast on the day of the crime. Bowen at last
stopped him in his gentlest Oxonian tones and said,
' Prisoner, you must allow me to remind you that the
question which we are trying is not whether you or
any of your friends had red herrings or even smelts
for breakfast, but whether you beat your wife's head
to pieces with that poker.' "

On September 7th in this year my youngest sister,
Marcia, was married to North Dalrymple, after which
I paid the first of many visits to Stanway, then
inhabited by the Elchos.

Stanway was a beautiful old Jacobean house, v
situated in a hollow at the very foot of the Cotswolds,
which went up behind it in a succession of terraces.
Approaching through an arched gateway built by
Inigo Jones, you found yourself in a courtyard, which
was bounded on one side by the parish church, and
on the other by the hall of the house, ending in a
beautiful oriel window, the whole being more like a
collegiate or monastic establishment than a private
residence. Nor would such an impression be incorrect,
as it had originally been a retreat attached to the
monastery in Tewkesbury.

Later in the month I went north to Lochinch, in
Wigtonshire, which was in many ways a unique place,

1 88 LOCH INCH [X.

and deserves some mention. The house was modern,
and was built upon a tongue of land which ran between
two fresh-water lochs. The whole of this territory
had been carved into terraces and bastions by an
army under the command of one of the former Lords
Stair, which was put into winter quarters in the
neighbourhood. These were now covered with
splendid turf, and planted with ornamental shrubs,
forming a pleasaunce of more than half a mile in
length, which ended in the ivy-covered ruins of Castle
Kennedy. For a mile or two on each side of the
house the country was flat, and contained several
curious fresh-water lochs, like large pools in the
middle of grass fields, with no banks or rocks on their
margins. Some miles away were endless stretches
of low hills covered with heather, and intersected by
small valleys containing hill farms, each surrounded
by its patch of tilth. This country had a great charm,
both from the beauty of line in its long, straight
ridges, and the variety of its vesture, heather and
fern, golden grass and bog myrtle, clustering about
the grey rocks. The sport was, to a sportsman of the
old-fashioned sort, the best and most varied I ever
enjoyed. The flat country provided excellent partridge
and pheasant shooting, and there were plenty of
trout in the lochs. The mixture of cultivation with
moor in the higher lands was very favourable to
grouse and black game, and permitted of a combination
of driving and walking, and a variety in the bag which
is to be met with nowhere to such an extent as in
these Southern Highlands.

Our host, Lord Stair, was an admirable specimen of
a Scottish potentate. When I first visited at Lochinch
he was in full health and vigour, and used always to

1879-81] SCOTT-RUSSELL 189

come out with the shooters, adding much to the
enjoyment of the day by his fun and spirits.

" Nov. 26. Dined at .... Huxley and Lord Lytton
there. Lord Lytton very agreeable, if one can get
over the prejudice which the cut of his trousers pro-
duces in the mind of the ordinary British male. He
and Huxley held excellent discourse on the family
life of the oyster, Huxley supplying the facts and
Lord Lytton the fancy. Later in the evening Huxley
talked well on Ireland, being very strong against the
' Disturbance Bill.' "

While staying at Ravensworth for the autumn
Assizes this year I met Scott-Russell, the celebrated
engineer. He was very conversational, and I made a
few notes in my diary of his "table talk," which I
will give, without, of course, guaranteeing the accuracy
of his statements.

" In my opinion the Pyramids were built by cutting
down solid rock to a particular slope and then facing
it with the stone so obtained. In proof of this there
are no joinings in the stones after you get a certain
distance in.

" At the time of the Crimean War I had large con-
tracts for ships which were to be finished at high
speed, and was employing 2,000 workmen. They took
advantage of the situation to ask a rise of wages, till
they made from 55. to 135. a day. I, however, had got
information that hostilities were nearly over, and on
the men claiming a further rise to 155., refused. When
they had been out a month they came back on my
own terms. I always paid each workman what I
thought his labour was worth. When on one occasion
there was a dispute with the men over this system,
they burnt a ship I had on the stocks to the loss
of £25,000. I have lost £55,000 in my life in this
way.

"When I was thinking of going into Parliament,
Lord Palmerston said to me, ' Say nothing for two

190 MATTHEW ARNOLD [X.

years, but study the character of those about you ;
for twenty years after that only speak on your own
special subject.' "

On my return to London I found a note at my
chambers from the Attorney-General (Sir Henry
James) giving me the Mint and Post Office
prosecutions at Sessions. I was pleased with this
small windfall, as, though the takings were not large,
it gave one a certain status, and lessened the chance
of going to a place and finding absolutely no work.

"Dec. 3. Went to Sandringham Rectory to stay
with Hervey. The Prince of Wales's house close to
Rectory, pretty park and grounds. Tenants' ball at
Sandringham — a great crowd. I didn't know many
people, and didn't dance much. The Prince and
Princess dancing vigorously. The tenants at first all
huddled together like sheep at one end of the room,
but afterwards took courage and danced gaily.

"Dec. 7. Went to see old Baron Martin ; found him
very deaf. We talked on Irish affairs. He said
1 Mr. Liddell, it does not take a Sir William Follett to
persuade a man not to pay his rent.'

"Feb. 13, 1881. I met Matthew Arnold in Piccadilly
and walked with him to St. James's Place. His talk
was interesting, but his ' Dundreary ' manner is
curious in a man of such austere intellectual taste.
He said that Carlyle had never satisfied him. George
Eliot's books he did not like, though he recognised
her power of drawing character. He had no great
opinion of Lowell as a poet, better as a critic.
Thought Benjamin Franklin's autobiography very poor,
' Richard's Maxims ' the best American book. He
had not been able to care much yet for Bret Harte,
but thought he might do so ; was going to read him to
his daughters. Had lately re-read ' David Copper-
field,' and had liked it much more than he had ever done
before, being struck with its vigorous talent. He had
been more thanked for his last poem (on the death of
the dog Geist) than for anything he ever wrote. He

1 879-8 1] BURTON ON CARLYLE 191

supposed it was because few persons liked verses,
and many liked dogs."

I find noted in my diary under Feb. 25th of this
year:

"At 12 this night Courts of Common Pleas and
Exchequer breathed their last."

This change, which saved a few thousands a year,
has not, in my opinion, been followed with the good
results expected by its authors. It has substituted
for these Courts, each under the immediate control
of its chief, an unwieldy body of Judges supposed to
be kept in order by a divisum imperium consisting of
the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice. It
has abolished the two chiefships which attracted the
best men at the Bar, who are now often unwilling to take
judgeships, a state of things which has the double evil
of diminishing the supply of good men for the Bench,
and giving an undue prominence to the Bar, it being
not uncommon now for a Judge to have before him an
advocate whose pupil he has been.

" March 31. Dined at Poynter's. Sir Frederic
Burton, the Curator of the National Gallery, told
us stories of Carlyle, imitating his voice, a slow,
impressive Scottish drawl. I will put down some
notes of his talk. ' At a breakfast of the Fellows
of the Zoological Society the Secretary, after making
some remarks laudatory of that body, said " Don't
you think so, Mr. Carlyle ? " Carlyle : " I hate
Zoological Gardens since I went to the Regent's
Park and there saw a beast walking round and
round everlastingly, till it had made a white track
round its cage, and it glared at me through
the bars." (Carlyle, who was eating a chop, then
showed his great teeth and glared with his eyes).'
Carlyle's power of graphic description was wonder-
ful. He used to sit in his drawing-room on the floor

192 CARLYLE AND JOHN KNOX [X.

near the fire, with his back against the pillars of the
chimney-piece, smoking a long pipe and stretched
across the fender. In this position he would pour
forth endless talk. Burton especially remembers that
once someone expressed ignorance on the subject of
golf. Carlyle then took up his parable and gave a
complete picture of the game, links and all, putting in
all the little events which might occur, so that Burton
almost saw the whole game before his eyes. The
narrative ended thus : ' And then they all go to a
public-house, and have a dinner of corned beef and
cabbage. The Scots are a grave people.' Once
Carlyle got hold of a picture of a Scottish divine in a
Puritan dress with a large white collar, which corre-
sponded entirely with his idea of Knox. Burton
pointed out to him that the dress was of a date
considerably later than Knox. This detail, however,
had no effect on him. He still stuck to his Knox.

"May 20. Heard of Alfred Barratt's death. He had
been the cleverest man at Oxford of my day. He got
five ' Firsts,' yet never seemed to do anything but
smoke and play cards. After he left he brought out a
book called ' Physical Ethics,' quite unintelligible to
ordinary mortals. He was a very good fellow, and
the sudden loss of one who seemed no less strong in
body than in mind has been a painful shock to all his
friends.

"July 8. We have got one of the Chancery Judges
sitting as Criminal Judge at the Assizes under the
new system. He seems rather a square man in a
round hole. He began by lecturing the Grand Jury
about ' Education,' ' Electric Light ' and other fancy
topics. Then he threatened to commit a man for
' contempt ' who called out to a prisoner, ' Keep up
your heart, Bob,' and lectured him priggishly.

"July 16. Durham Assizes. Hawkins asked me to '
defend a murder case which is on for trial next week.
Read the depositions — it seems an awkward case.
Did not feel much frightened."

I passed three rather uneasy days, and the case
came on upon the iQth. The prisoner was a negro,
who had quarrelled with his wife. On the day of the

i8;9-8i] A FERTILE IMAGINATION 193

crime he had, according to his own account, gone to
the house where she was staying, with a plate of
bacon in his hand, which he asked her to cook for him.
She dashed it out of his hand, and the man snatched
up a poker from the fireplace and battered her head to
pieces. One curious feature of the case was that it
came out that the prisoner was a great favourite with
children, and that he actually had two children
hanging on to his hand when he paid the fatal visit.
I spoke for about twenty minutes, dwelling on the
provocation and the generally aggravating character
of the female sex. Hawkins summed up dead against
me, and the jury, after an absence of about thirty
minutes, convicted the prisoner, though with a
recommendation to mercy.

"Aug. 21. A foreign lady here is lively and amusing.
She pretends to a belief that she has lived several
previous lives, which enables her to make astonishing
statements as to what she has done, and whom she
had met in her former existence, e.g., it comes with
great effect into a conversation on astronomy to say
' As Galileo once told me.'

" Spiritualism is another of her topics. Being
herself a wonderful medium, male spirits were always
falling in love with her. At one time she was
persecuted by an aged spirit who showed his
attentions by knocking about the furniture of her
boudoir, and who at last became so importunate as
actually to rock the chair on which she sat. She
could only get rid of him by directing the governess
to make overtures to him, when he desisted from his
attentions, with what result to the governess she did
not say.

" Among her other marvels was the best account of
the Glamis ghost which I have yet heard. As she
was sitting in her room there the wall became trans-
parent, and she saw through it into the secret chamber
illumined with a lurid light. There lay in chains a

L.L. O

194 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION [X.

fearful object, half-man, half-toad, who was Lord
Strathmore in 1330. The dash of the toad in his
structure had given him longevity, the amount of man
in him was such that they dare not knock him on the
head ; so there he remains, fed on raw flesh by Lord
Strathmore, the factor and the eldest son.

"Aug. 31. Escrick. British Association party.
Rayleighs, Francis Galton, Herbert Spencer, Henry
Bradshaw, Edmund Gurney."

This was an interesting party, the talk ranging over
a great variety of topics.

"Sept. i. Hostess to Herbert Spencer: 'I shall
always believe that flowers have consciousness.'
Herbert Spencer : ' If you are determined to adhere
to the proposition that it is possible to dissociate the
existence of consciousness from the physiological
processes of nervous organisation, I must differ from
you entirely.' "

Francis Galton told us of a plan of generalising
faces by throwing a number of impressions of
different faces in the same position on to a plate and
then taking a print. The result is a kind of compound
face, in which all the more salient characteristics are
supposed to appear. He showed us types of the
military officer, and of the Welsh dissenting minister.
He thinks that by extending the process to persons
suffering from a particular disease, it might be possible
to connect particular types with particular diseases,
and so take precautionary measures with persons
displaying those types in early life.

Galton also stated that in the Challenger expedition
all soundings had brought up meteoric dust, and that
the earth was receiving this addition day and night.
Organic remains of the lowest orders of life, such as
sponges, had been found in the dust.

Herbert Spencer, on being asked why he ate

18/9-8 1] ACCESS TO MOUNTAINS 195

strawberry jam at breakfast, said that the beneficial
effects of happiness upon mankind have been much
underrated, owing to the over-respect paid to
asceticism. He considered pleasure an excellent
digestive. He himself could not digest the same food
for many days, simply from the effect that monotony
would have upon his mind, and had heard of a man
who went into a decline from eating nothing but
mutton chops.

After leaving Escrick I paid my first visit to Glen
AfFaric, a shooting-lodge in Inverness-shire occupied
by my friends the Matthew Ridleys. It was one of the
most beautiful places in the Highlands, the lodge being
built on a promontory between two lochs, looking
down Loch Affaric to the hills at its western end. I
went out stalking for the first time, and thoroughly
enjoyed the walking in the glens and corries, but did
not get a shot till I assisted at a deer-drive at
Guisachan, where I killed my first stag.

My next stay was at Arndilly, on the Spey, with
William Graham. Nothing worthy of note happened
except an expedition to ascend Ben Mac Dhui, said to
be the highest mountain in Scotland. After attaining
the summit, we were leisurely descending when we
became aware of a loud shouting proceeding from
some rocks on the other side of a deep ravine. The

sriTouts came from the owner of the forest, Lord A ,

who had been crawling after a stag for about three-
quarters of an hour, when his quarry had been dis-
turbed by our party just as he was getting within
range. His lordship was naturally much disturbed at
this disappointment, and sent his keeper across to us,
laden with denunciations. However, when the man
approached and got out of his master's sphere of

o 2

196 WILTON [X.

influence, either because he scented a tip or because
he was impressed by Mr. Graham's appearance, his
language was extremely mild. The result was a rather
absurd situation. The day being very still, the master
on the other side of a deep ravine could hear all that
was said, and the result was something of this kind.
Keeper : " His lordship bade me tell ye that ye have
nae business here, as the hull is in the forest." Lord A.
(shouting across the gulley) : " No, no, tell 'em they're

a d d set of Cockney tourists, trespassing on my

land, and I'll put every b y soul of 'em into prison."

Und so weifer, until he ceased from exhaustion, and the
keeper had beat a retreat with a furtive half-crown,
while we fled down the mountain as fast as our legs
would carry us. I must confess that the doctrine of
" access to mountains " not having been then
propounded, I thought that the noble lord had some
cause for his annoyance.

In November of this year I paid a visit to Wilton,
the first of many pleasant sojournings, as one was
always sure of meeting an agreeable and friendly
company. For this reason, and because the place is a
remarkable one with, if one may say so, a strong
individuality of its own, I shall put down a few words
about it.

The house is built in different styles, so does not
compare externally with Longleat or Blickling in
harmonious beauty. The interior, however, is very
fine, the rooms being of noble proportion and
ornamented with wood-carving of a rich and massive
design by Gibbons. The best of these apartments,
indeed one of the finest in England, is a room in the
shape of a double-cube, at one end of which was a
superb Vandyke covering the whole width of the wall.

1 879-8 1] GEORGE PEMBROKE 197

The double-cube was specially built for music, and
some of the completest moments of my life have been
passed listening to Hubert Parry playing to a
company of friends in those rich and dignified
surroundings.

The grounds are worthy of the house, in summer
time approaching our idea of Eden. Two clear chalk
streams, the Nadder and the Wyllie, run through the
gardens in three channels, the main stream being
crossed by a Palladian bridge of beautiful design.
Between this and the house is a lawn shaded with
glorious cedars, and on the other side the ground rises
into a wooded hill. Everywhere are murmuring
waters, rustling trees and sylvan walks. — George
Pembroke ruled over this fair demesne, one of the few
men I have known who had charm in addition to his
other gifts. He was a big, rather unwieldy man, with
a richly-coloured picturesque head, a philosopher as
well as a grand seigneur, and had a mind deeply
interested in all the problems of the time, as well as
keenly appreciative of all that was best in literature
and art. Had his health or temperament been suited
to hard work, he would have been known in the world.

CHAPTER XI
1882—1883

Professor Owen — Snapshots — Abbey Leix — The Old Home — Fiji —
Odette — Visit to French Schools — A French Government Office
— French Schools compared with English — A " Cellule " — The
Skeleton at the Feast — A Portent — A Deer-drive — Loch Luicharf"
— The " Ajax " — Reformatory School Commission in Ireland —
English and Irish Schools compared — Foundation Stone of Gos-
ford — A Brief from Freshfields — The Pre-Raphaelites at Oxford
— The " Souls " — Lord Cowper — Wrest.

1882. Early in this year I heard that Lord Aberdare
was going to offer me the Secretaryship of the Royal
Commission on Reformatory and Industrial Schools.
I was much rejoiced at the prospect of regular work
again, and on so important and interesting a subject.

" Feb. 8. Went with my father to see Professor
Owen at the new Natural History Museum. He showed
us round with his usual charming exposition. Among
other beasts we saw the head of a mastodon with
tusks about twenty feet long, which had been found
embedded in a sandstone quarry in India. The blocks
of sandstone were cut out and sent over to the
museum, where it took the workmen two years to free
the several portions of the specimen by chipping away
the stone all round. Owen thinks that the huge tusks
of the mastodon, horns of early deer, etc., are simply
the result of the abundance of food in those un-
competitive times. He expounded to us the wonderful
adaptation of the big tree-sloth to pulling down trees,
who used his tail and hind legs as a tripod, from
which he got a purchase to pull the tree down with
his fore-paws. One of these beasts had been found
with his skull cracked by a tree which had fallen on
him. This crack, though evidently the ultimate cause
of death, was partially healed, which showed that it

1882-83] SNAPSHOTS 199

could not have been caused by a blow from another
beast, as the sloth would then have been eaten up on
being stunned, and there would have been no time for
healing.

" March 10. First meeting of the Reformatory and
Industrial School Commission. Lord Aberdare, the
Chairman, was half an hour late, which caused a
dreadful time, all the Commissioners standly stiffly
about making desultory remarks, Broadhurst
grumbling at the loss of twenty minutes in the
afternoon.

"March 14. With Poynter to a lecture at the R.A.
by a Californian on the movements of men and
animals. He had contrived that a horse in passing a
line of cameras produced a series of photos of himself,
representing his position at every twelve inches in his
line of going. In the case of the horse, modern artists
seemed to have got hold of no position at all like those
in the photographs. The Greeks and Egyptians had
depicted one or two which the Californian thought
correct, and it looked to me as if some of his positions
might have been found in old French books on the
manege. The figure of a galloping horse, to which we
are accustomed, was more like the going of a deer.
There were also some photos of birds, though they
were a bit hazy. With these there is a common
position where both wings are below the body, which
the Egyptians and Japanese alone have reproduced.

At Easter this year I went again to Abbey Leix.

"April 10. Riding through Abbey Leix town, one
lot of children jeered, but most people looked at us in
silence, and some took their hats on. In the country
many did this. At night we went up to the top of the
house. It was pitch dark, and the southern horizon
was blazing with bonfires kindled for the release of
Parnell from Kilmainham. It was a curious sight, and
reminded me of the beginning of the Agamemnon.
From the neighbouring town came the sound of
continuous shouting, blowing of horns, etc.

" April 29. Met Seymour Haden, who said he had
caught forty trout, amounting to seventy pound weight,
at Chenie,s a few days ago in two and a half hours,,

200 FIJI [XL

"April 30. Walked with my father to Professor
Owen's cottage at Sheen. Went into our old garden ;
strange, sad feeling of ' the days that are no more.'
Everything grown, all the shrubs looked bigger and
the ground less, making it strangely confined. Pro-
fessor Owen spoke of his recent journey in Egypt — of
a visit to Lesseps, who looked from his drawing-room
window on a sea of his own creation six or seven
miles long; also of a visit to the Khedive's harem
where, amidst all the Oriental surroundings, a French
governess played a quadrille on the piano, and the
little Khedives went through the dance clad in Eastern
garb. He afterwards discoursed on the names along
the Thames, showing what a thoroughfare it had been
for invaders. First Wandsworth — ' Woden's worth '
or ' Woden's property,' Wandle, ' Woden's Vale ' —
spoke to the presence of the Danes, just as Mortlake,
1 Mort lac,' did to that of the Normans."

" May 6. Victor Williamson dined, just back from
Fiji, where he has been for the Government settling
the land question. He says that they are doing their
utmost to destroy, as fatal to progress, the system of
Communism which the Socialists wish to set up in
England. At present, if a Fijian envies any property
belonging to a fellow tribesman he asks for it, and the
person asked has to give, but may demand what he
likes in return. Under this system no fruit of labour
is secure, so no one will work. If you want anything
belonging to a member of another tribe you send him
a whale's tooth, which means that if he don't shell out
you'll make him. This is effected by forwarding on
the whale's tooth to a third party, with a request for
him to help you to wallop No. i.

"May 13. To the Haymarket to see Odette — a
thrilling drama ; sobs all round. I had difficulty in
preventing tears. Bancroft in the most moving scene
stands most of the time with his back to the audience.
This is much commented on, but is effective. Left
with the feeling I always have after being thoroughly
harrowed at a play, that I have been doing what is
not quite right, playing with my best emotions. Yet
this feeling never follows on reading a stirring book."

All this spring I had been working hard as secre-

1882-83] A FRENCH GOVERNMENT OFFICE 201

tary to the Reformatory and Industrial Schools
Commission, which had taken evidence in London,
and visited several schools in the Home Counties.

In the Whitsun holiday I thought it would be
interesting to go and see one or two French institu-
tions of this kind. As my friend Edward Poynter was
going to Paris, I accompanied him.

My father gave me a letter of introduction to Lord
Lyons, who asked me to dinner, and presented me
with credentials to the French Minister of the Interior.
As to what followed I cannot do better than give the
reader some extracts from an article in " Blackwood,"
which I wrote on my return home.

"Armed with a large envelope I called on the
Minister of the Interior, and was shown into a waiting
room that formed a pleasant contrast to its English
counterpart with its cheerful decorations of cocoa-nut
matting, pewter inkstands and dirty blotting-paper.
Here to begin with were busts of Diana and Apollo,
chairs and a sofa (as comfortable as such things ever
are in France) and an imposing picture of a naval
action on the wall. At last I was shown to the
Minister's room. This was a very smart apartment,
ormolu clocks, gilt candelabra, heavy curtains, Utrecht
velvet chairs, and what looked like a good copy of a
large Venetian picture. I thought how the office
keepers at the Home Office would stare if they saw
this large undraped lady among the Home Secretary's
solemn bookcases. Presently, with quick steps, like a
man of business on the stage, enter a little man, who
looked as if he had sat up very late the night before.
Giving me a hasty bow, he mastered the contents of
the official letter, and in a few jerky sentences recapitu-
lated my wants. I said ' oui.' He ran off in a similar
mechanical style what he would do for me. I said
' Merci.' Thereupon M. le Ministre dashes off a letter
and some sand on to it. I said ' Merci ' again, and
also ' Bon jour.' At the last moment the statesman
relaxes a little, and says ' he hopes I can find my way

202 FRENCH AND ENGLISH SCHOOLS [XI.

out.' I assure him that 1 can, and do so with a
large brown dispatch addressed to the Director of
Prisons.

" On reaching the abode of that official it appeared
that he was out. So I was left with a wreathed bust
of ' La Republique Francaise ' and Le Journal Officiel.
Fortunately the journal contained some good reading.
Firstly, a scene in the Chamber on the question of
secular education, a ' Reactionary ' objecting to the
children in some department being taught a song, the
refrain of which was :

Let us make pates
Of all the Curfes.

Secondly, an official letter from the Minister of Agri-
culture to the Director of Woods and Forests, setting
forth in eloquent language how forests could not
possibly do well of themselves, or be of any service
to humanity except under a Republic.

"At last the Director of Prisons returned, and was
politeness itself. It was arranged that I should see a
' Colonie Penitentiaire ' at Douaires, and a ' Quartier
Correctionnel ' at Rouen, which would give me a sight
of the two principal species corresponding to some
extent to our reformatory and industrial schools."

I do not propose to give the details of the visits I
paid to these schools, which would not be interesting
to the general reader; I shall merely mention one or
two points of comparison between them and our own
institutions for like purposes.

On the vexed question of detention, the policy of our
neighbours was a much bolder one than ours, the usual
term of detention in both schools being up to twenty
years of age. This gets rid of one of the chief blots on
our system, viz., the power of the parents to resume
control of the boy, often for vicious purposes, after he
has been maintained and educated at the expense of
the State. On the other hand it makes management
and discipline much more difficult. An attempt was

1882-83] A CELLULE 203

made to obviate this in the " Quartiers," where there
were many more older boys, by dividing the inmates
into three classes, according to age, who lived separate
as far as possible, and occupied separate dormitories.
Corporal punishment was not allowed in France, which
necessitated a much larger use of the cellule (solitary
confinement) than with us.

I remember in the " Quartier " at Rouen we visited
a cellule, wherein was a culprit with a low forehead,
sunken eyes, and a most evil countenance. " What
are you in for, 26 ? " said the Director. " Bavardises
in the Refectory, but I'll never do it again." "Ah,
that's what they all say ! " cried the Director, beginning
to work himself up in true French fashion. " I'm very
sorry," growled the offender. " Ah, malheureux"
shouted his superior, putting his face down close to
the boy's and shaking his forefinger in front of his
nose, " Why didn't you think of that before ? " With
which reflection the door was shut upon the half-
human creature and we passed on.

Discipline in the French schools was on the whole
stricter, and there was closer supervision, especially in
the dormitories.

The French buildings being entirely supported by
the State were finer, and the arrangements more
elaborate than in most of our schools, and the order
and cleanliness were admirable, though I saw no
attempt at cheerful ornaments in the way of pictures,
etc., so usual with us. The type of boy was much
the same. Also owing to the difficulties placed in the
way of the parents getting their children again under
their control, they did not desert them or connive at
offences in order to get them into the school origin-
ally. The influence of parents over " boarded out "

204 THE SKELETON AT THE FEAST [XI.

children was obviated in France by a wise system of
committing them to institutions at a distance from the
home of the offenders.

"July 29. On this day my friend Edward Ridley, now
the judge, was married to Alice Bromley Davenport,
and I filled the office of ' best man.' The ceremony
was a large affair, and took place at St. Peter's, Eaton
Square, and was doubtless much like any other
wedding, except for the following circumstances : —
Considerable excitement was raised among the spec-
tators of the presents when it was rumoured that a
tall oak box placed against the wall contained a
skeleton, and all sorts of stories were rife as to the
significance of such a curious wedding gift. The real
explanation was simple. An eccentric old gentleman
had once found the bride, who was fond of drawing,
making a study from a skull, and had vowed that he
would give her a whole skeleton when she married.
The result was that after protracted negotiation he
secured the framework of an Austrian grenadier,
which, I believe, it was found most difficult to import.
This was not the sole trouble connected with the
gift, as when the young couple set up house the
servants shied at this strange inmate of the establish-
ment, and he had to be presented to a hospital."

After the season I went to Scotland, and the follow-
ing day was dropped by the steamer in Armadale
Bay, on the southern end of Skye. A boat met me
from the shore, and the steamer was soon out of sight.
Suddenly I was amazed by a deep, melodious sound,
which seemed to come from nowhere in particular, and
to fill the whole air above the lonely loch. I was
quite staggered with astonishment, we being a distance
from the shore, and nothing whatever visible on the
smooth surface of the water. Doubts whether kelpies,
mermaids, etc., might not after all exist in those regions
began to cross my mind. On landing I walked up to
the house, and while talking to my host in front of the

1882-83] A DEER-DRIVE 205

door my luggage arrived on a barrow from the shore.
My host went up to it, and pointing to a large parcel
wrapped in matting said, " Is that the clock, Sandy ? "
The mystery was now explained. A large chiming
clock had been stowed away under the forward
thwarts of the boat. This position, and the many
wraps in which it was enveloped, had so muffled
the sound as to give it the effect of coming from a
distance. If it had not happened that the matter was
so soon explained, I should all my life have felt abso-
lutely convinced that there were more things in earth
than were dreamt of by my philosophy.

" Sept. 1 8. Affaric. Started at four for a drive of deer.
It was quite dark, but the sky to the east had a lighter,
somewhat greenish look, though the stars were still
quite bright in it. Rowing up the loch into the misty
west, the clouds came gradually down, leaving but
this one faintly luminous strip astern of us. It felt
like being in Charon's boat. On landing we could
hardly see to walk, but crossing a meadow heard a
clatter of feet, and saw dim forms fleeing before us.
Shortly after the shepherds and dogs passed us who
were going up the pass to 'gather' the sheep. It
was eight o'clock when we took our stations, where
we waited, hearing first the voices of the men and
dogs coming down the wind. Then the sheep began
to move along the hill-sides like strings of maggots,
and finally dots crossed the sky-line, and men and
dogs appeared. I only saw one stag."

On leaving Affaric I went to Loch Luichart, belong-
ing to Lady Ashburton, a well-known figure in
society, and centre of myths. Though stout, she had
a commanding presence, with fine eyes and an
aquiline face like a Roman empress.

Loch Luichart was a beautiful place, but I went
there with some trepidation, as there were all kinds of
stories afloat as to the peculiarity of the domestic

206 LOCH LUICHART [XL

arrangements and the uncertain tenure of one's bed-
room, a state of things which was brought about by
her ladyship's habit of constantly changing her
servants, and her hospitality, which led her to ask
more persons than the house would hold, and to
visitors being quartered in summer-houses or other
unsuitable abodes. These rumours were to some
extent confirmed by my experience, as the male
establishment had been reduced to one footman,
and was presided over by a retired gamekeeper, said
to be also the steward of the yacht. He certainly
bore no resemblance in dress or appearance to a
butler, and served what wine there was in black
bottles.

I was not favoured by being sent upon " the hill," the
only call on my energies being to partake of the
intellectual games which were then coming into
fashion. I remember in connection with these an
amusing instance of the " irritabile genus." One of
the games consisted in answering questions in rhyme,
it being necessary to incorporate certain words in the
answer. The performances were, when written, folded
up and read aloud by one of the party, the name of the
writer being kept secret. Our hostess took upon
herself the part of reader, and either from short sight
or impetuosity, usually made a great hash of the
poems. We ordinary mortals, though chafing at the
metre and rhyme of our exercises being destroyed,
suffered in silence. Not so Sir Theodore Martin and
Mr. Hamilton Aide. They became very restless at the
way their productions were massacred, and eventually
burst out in loud remonstrances.

After Loch Luichart I went to Aberdeen, where ten
members of the Commission had assembled with a

1882-83] THE AJAX 207

view of inspecting specimens of the Scottish schools
and taking evidence. Life in Aberdeen was rather
stern, as befitted that chilly, if imposing, city. We
had to undergo a hospitable but ponderous lunch in
the Guildhall, and our sole recreation was serious
rubbers of whist after dinner in the rather stuffy hotel;
so, on the whole, I was not sorry when we left for
Edinburgh, though the task of looking after the
luggage and despatch boxes of ten Commissioners
was no joke.

"Dec. 4. Eton. To see the Ajax. Dined at the
Cornishes, a large gathering of sages and aesthetic
people. Fitzjames Stephen there. Reminded me
much of Johnson. A young man offered to help him
on with his great-coat, upon which Stephen roared out
with great contempt, ' I hope I haven't come to that
yet.' Young man crushed and frightened. At 10.30
to the College Hall, where ' Ajax ' was played. The
hero was Stephen's second son, a big, powerful
fellow, rather top ' Gothic ' for Ajax, but looked most
ferocious when insane. Tecmessa good and rather
pretty, of a ' Magdalen type/ as Lord Aberdare
would say. I liked the performance, but not so well
as the ' Agamemnon ' ; the acting was not so good,
and the fine effect of the chorus, which is a much more
prominent feature in the ' Agamemnon,' is here
missing."

Towards the end of January, 1883, the Reformatory
and Industrial Schools Commission started for a tour
in Ireland. We began at Belfast. As I found that
writing to hotels on Government paper resulted in
overcharging, I had ordered our rooms on paper
bearing the address of an hotel in Newcastle. The
number bespoke being eleven, the hotel at Belfast
assumed that we were a football team, and when old

G. and one or two other Commissioners arrived,

they found that they had been placed in garrets, to

208 THE COMMISSION IN IRELAND [XL

their great astonishment and fury. However, this was
soon remedied, and I found the Irish hotels better than
I expected, as though tidiness was lacking, the food
and attendance were good. From Belfast we went to
Dublin.

"Jan. 30. The Commission dined with the Lord
Mayor of Dublin. Messrs. Healy, O'Brien and many
unknown Nationalists there. I sat between the senior
Alderman and the French Consul. Things got a little
nervous now and then during the speeches. The
dinner was long and crowded, and we did not get
away till 11.30.

"Jan. 31. A demoniacal-looking man cursed Lord
Aberdare and myself, as we were walking in the
streets, for no apparent reason. I suppose he was a
politician.

"Feb. 3. Kilkenny. A characteristic scene at the
railway station. Our train for Waterford refused to
start, in spite of a crowd of men putting logs behind
the wheels and cheering the engine on. Apparently
the only chance of getting her off was for the train to

?o backwards first — a very Irish way of proceeding,
t was not till we had gone about 200 yards directly
away from our goal that a start was at last effected,
amid the loud cheers of all the loafers of Kilkenny.
But we were an hour late into Waterford."

Our tour in Ireland was very interesting, as we
found, especially in the case of the industrial schools,
that the operation of various causes had produced an
institution of quite a different type to that existing in
Great Britain.

In Ireland, for various reasons, the industrial
schools had come to be looked upon as State-aided
homes for destitute children, instead of institutions for
reforming children of criminal habits and surroundings.
The curious part of this state of things was that it had
been brought about in the teeth of the law. Clergy-

1882-83] IRISH INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 209

men, philanthropists and magistrates united in getting
into the schools children whose cases did not strictly
come under the Industrial School Acts.

This view of the case naturally resulted in a large
number of committals, which were at the time we
visited Ireland about in proportion of 3 to 2 to the
committals in Great Britain. In consequence of
this run upon the institutions, the Chief Secretary
had had to limit the Treasury grant, and in some
counties the Grand Jury had refused to contribute to
the maintenance of the children committed.

In order to meet this state of things my Com-
mission made various recommendations, the most
important of which was the putting of the charge for
the children on the Guardians instead of the County
Councils.

As regards the structure and conditions of the
schools, the power of organisation of the Roman
Church and her energy in collecting money made the
Catholic schools in the larger towns the best found,
and apparently the best disciplined, of any we had
seen. Probably the traditional respect for the priest-
hood makes it easier for them to manage boys than it
is for mere laymen, while their position as pastors,
rather than gaolers, results in a greater kindness of
manner and treatment.

"April 10. Gosford. The first stone was laid of the
new nouse. A portion of the central wall of the
existing building had been pulled down, and large
props of rough timber held up the parts dependent on
it. In the shadowy central passage a small group
was assembled, consisting of tne chief craftsmen and
one or two masons, Lord and Lady Wemyss, two
sons, myself, and the old black retriever. A hollow
had been made in a large stone, and fitted in it was a

L.L. P

210 A BRIEF FROM FRESHFIELD'S [XI.

leaden box, holding an almanack, the papers of the
day, and a guinea belonging to the Lord Wemyss who
began the house eighty-three years ago. A plumber
soldered up the box and placed it in the stone. As he
rose the master-mason advanced, laid a flat slab over
the hollow, and plastered round its edges with mortar.
He then handed to Lady Wemyss a trowel, a square,
and a hammer. Kneeling down she struck the slab
with the hammer and placed the square upon it. The
weight hung from the centre straight and true, a good
omen for the work. Smoothing the edge of the

Elaster with the trowel, she said ' God bless this
ouse and those that live in it hereafter.'
" April 17. A brief left from Freshfield's for Leeds
Assizes, my first civil case. It was a claim by a con-
tractor for money due for 'warping' some land in
Lincolnshire. 'Warping' is a kind of irrigation
whereby the tidal waters are let in upon the fields
through sluice-gates, leaving a slimy deposit on the
land. I was rather anxious about this brief, as it was
of great importance to do a case well for such a firm
as Freshfiefds, and I had an uneasy time until the
25th, when it came on before North, J. I was for the
defendant, the owner of the land, and my leader
was a well-known Q.C. on the Circuit. He cross-
examined the plaintiff, and then said that he must go
to the Crown Court. A mill-wheel went round in my
head when I was left in this unexpected way, as I had
prepared no speeches or cross-examination. How-
ever, there was no help for it, and I got on fairly with
the cross-examination, but was rather overcome when
it came to opening the case for the defence. About
five my leader came back for an hour. On the next
day he was again away. Our witnesses were very
lame, and it was up-hill work. Just as I was in
despair, the leader appeared and summed up our case ;
but from having heard so little evidence he was not
very forcible, and did not carry the jury with him, as
they gave the plaintiff .£250. I never got another
brief from Freshfields.

" May 10. To dine with William Richmond at Ham-
mersmith. When the rest of the party were gone, Val
Prinsep discoursed about the days of the painting of
the Union at Oxford by Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Morris

1882-83] DARK DAYS 211

and himself. A wonderful, disorderly, innocently-
foolish, conceited, Bohemian lot they seem to have
been, using fearful language, and living in a purposely
inhuman style. They always declined all invitations,
but on one occasion Burne-Jones was driven into a
promise that they would dine with a local magnate,
with the result that they all had to leave for London
the same afternoon as the only way of escape.

" June 10. Oxford. Went over one of the new
ladies' colleges, Miss Shaw Lefevre, the Principal,
giving us tea. We were afterwards shown round by
a student The quarters are pleasant. They have
one room each, like an Eton room, only larger. The
bed is covered up with a coloured rug.

" When I was in Trinity Gardens, was introduced to
Professor Fawcett, and walked up and down with him
and Davey, Q.C. (afterwards Lord Davey). They
talked about fishing. Fawcett very merry and pleasant."

At the summer Sessions this year I was feeling
very unwell, and as Fate willed it had more briefs
than I had ever had before. These comprised two
rating appeals, a class of case quite new to me, one
of them involving rather complicated questions. The
first was a hopeless case, but in the second there was
something to be said for our point of view, and the
Court consulted for some time before deciding against
me. I was holding the brief for a counsel who could
not attend, and the client was very angry at not
winning. What with these failures and my depressed
spirits, my prospects at this time seemed to me very
dark. But the dawn of better times soon came from
another quarter. In this month Hawkins (afterwards
Lord Brampton) who was the senior Judge of Assize
on our Circuit, offered me the post of " Revising
Barrister " for the West Riding of Yorkshire ; and
Lord Dalhousie the secretaryship of the " Trawling
Commission."

p 2

212 LORD COWPER [XL

I paid my first visit to the Cowpers at Wrest in the
beginning of August this year. This was the first of
many delightful sojourns at Wrest and Panshanger,
where in later years I generally met the same lot of
friends who frequented Wilton and the Glen, though
the parties were not consciously confined to this set.

These gatherings were the origin of the " Souls,"
who a few years later were talked of in society as if
they were a definitely organised association. In
reality they were nothing more than a set of friends,
the nucleus of which had been brought together by
the social gifts of the Tennant family. Even as a set
they had no definite limits, as some of them were, so
to speak, only occasional " Souls," though there was a
certain group who generally were to be found together.
However, my Wrest visit has led me rather to fore-
stall events, as I did not then know any of the
Tennants or their friends. Lord Cowper, our host,
was a very attractive man. He had a fine head and
figure, though there was a certain softness in both,
born, I expect, from a rather indolent character,
aggravated by the bad health from which he was
beginning to suffer, which prevented him being as
large a man as he would have been if he had been a
struggler. He had courteous manners, rather of the
old school, a capable intellect, with a good deal of
historical knowledge, and an interest in literature
which made him a very pleasant companion. Besides
these qualities there was in him a sort of stately
kindliness, which produced, certainly as far as I was
concerned, a feeling which was more like affection
than the ordinary liking for an acquaintance and
entertainer of distinguished social position.

Wrest is the beau-ideal of a grand seigneur's villa.

1882-83] WREST 213

You approach through a trim village of detached
cottages standing in their own gardens. Then come
lodges, and a great avenue of elms and limes leads
you to the portico. The house is built in the fashion
of a French or Italian villa, long windows and a high
roof. At the back of the house is a broad terrace
looking on to a formal garden, beyond which is a great
pleasaunce, like a sylvan Versailles. These sylvan
shades are the charm of Wrest, and I never saw any-
thing quite like them in our islands. Beginning as a
formal pleasaunce, Nature has been allowed to have
her way, and the great trees now tower above the yew
hedges, and the grass and undergrowth run riot in
the glades. Round all the enchanted land a river,
widened into a lake, cuts off the outer world, with its
dark waters barred here and there with belts of pale
green weed or islands of water lilies.

" August 7. Wildernesse. Arthur Balfour here.
Talked on various books. He praised F. Myers'
essays — liked his poems better than Matthew Arnold's,
though he thought as a poet Arnold would live longer
than any other of this generation. He admired
Clough greatly, but did not like the 'Bothy' or
'Amours de Voyage' because of the metre. He
thought highly of D. G. Rossetti and Christina,
reckoning ' Sister Helen ' in some respects the best
ballad ever written. The 'Sonnets' seemed to him
too difficult."

CHAPTER XII

1883—1885

Queen Victoria's Travelling — Revising Barristership — Priestman v.
Thomas — The Trawling Commission — Examinership — Royal
Academy Lectures — Tableaux Vivants — Mells — Huxley — Laura
Tennant — The Grantully Castle — The Glen — Explosion at the
House of Commons — Mr. Goschen — My Father's Death —
Tynemouth Wards — Watts — Mr. Tomline — Rodono — Revision
— The Admiralty — St. George's.

As the Trawling Commission was to take evidence
at Aberdeen in September about the time I began my
Revision work, it was arranged that I should send a
deputy to act as secretary till I should be able to join.
After a delightful time at Affaric I went up to London
to get my traps ready for my circuit as Revising
Barrister.

" Sept. 17, 1883. Perth. Had to share a sleeping
berth with Sir W. Harcourt, the Home Secretary.
He was conversational. Inter alia he told me that the
Queen's two journeys to Balmoral cost ^"5,000 per
annum. That she has a man stationed on every half
mile of the line from London to Braemar. Her whole
travelling expenses for a year are about £10,000,
which is more than George III.'s came to in the old
posting days."

On the iQth I went to Leeds and started the next
day with one of my fellow Revisers to see how the
thing was done. But I think the rapidity of the
proceedings in the hands of experts confused rather
than helped my comprehension of the practice.

Ever since my appointment I had been in a
smouldering state of apprehension about the Revising,

1883-85] REVISING 215

and this last day or two it broke out into a flame
which consumed me with alarm. There certainly was
some justification, as the work was entirely new,
sometimes involving points of considerable difficulty,
and had to be carried on in the light that beats upon
a public official, which was not diminished by the
local press being a good deal dependent on the
Revision Courts for pabulum at that dull time of year.
In one way I was most fortunate, I had a delightful
basis of operations in the shape of Wortley Hall, near
Sheffield, one of the most comfortable of houses, and
well fitted by its pleasant society and good cheer to
restore the worker after a hard day.

On Monday September 24th, a wet, dismal morning,
I began my sittings at the Town Hall, Sheffield, sitting
in great external state, but in a great fright inwardly.

In those happy days there was not the same gulf
between the Conservative and Liberal party as now
exists. The agents on both sides were men of the
same type, generally leading solicitors in the county,
and by mutual arrangement and concession did all
they could to make things go smoothly. They
certainly showed me the greatest consideration.

The work for the first few hours was all formal. I
had only to give one decision of importance, which I
reserved. That night I went to bed for the first time
for many weeks with nothing on my mind.

The Revising in those days before the extension of
the franchise was not unpleasant work. In the larger
towns the Court lasted from about ten to four ; in the
smaller places from one to three hours. It was there-
fore quite possible to stay with friends and be back to
dinner every day. I finished the revising on October
nth, having found the work rather monotonous than

216 PRIESTMAN v. THOMAS [XII.

difficult, though one never could be sure that some
conundrum requiring care and consideration in its
solution would not turn up at any moment. With, I
think, one exception, the agents had been pleasant to
deal with, and the overseers were excellent specimens
of Yorkshiremen, being generally shrewd and civil,
and doing their business well. The natives who
appeared as claimants, witnesses and spectators at the
Courts were as a rule intelligent and hearty, very
keen politicians, but showing considerable deference
and respect for " the barrister. "

When the legal term began in November I resumed
my reporting, for the first time in the new Courts,
which I found very superior to the old, as far as
comfort and ventilation went.

" Nov. 16. Reported Priestman v. Thomas, a curious
case. Whalley, a man who had made a good deal of
money, had a natural son, who was the plaintiff.
Whalley lodged with the defendant, Thomas, a railway
porter in Leominster, and feeling his end approaching
told Thomas that he wished to write to his son.
Thomas accordingly wrote a letter for him in pencil
on a sheet of foolscap, which was signed by Whalley
in ink. Thomas then rubbed out the pencil and, with
the help of a friend who was a lawyer s clerk, wrote a
will on the sheet in ink, leaving himself ^"60,000. On
the death of Priestman, Thomas got probate of the
will, but suspicion being aroused, the relations took
the case into Court. A compromise was effected, by
which Thomas was to have ^"17,000, the relations the
rest. There matters might have ended had not vfipis
taken possession of the soul of Thomas. On the
strength of the ^"17,000 he retired from work and took
a house in Leamington, in the window of which he
was sitting one day discussing a glass of port, when
Priestman's solicitor happened to drive past. Thomas
took up a piece of paper and waved it derisively
towards the carriage. This enraged the lawyer, and
he determined to inspect the will again the next time

1883-85] TRAWLING COMMISSION 217

he was in Hereford, where it had been deposited in
the Registry. Accordingly, he did so, some six
months after the trial. To his astonishment he saw
pencil-writing under the ink, and, after a time, with
the aid of a magnifier, the whole epistle was deciphered,
the letters having reappeared to a great extent, owing
to the fibres of the paper resuming their position,
from which they had been deflected by the india
rubber. Armed with this new evidence, the relations
of Priestman brought the action in order to set aside
the compromise on the ground of fraud."

This was one of the most dramatic cases to which I
ever listened. The defendant got through his cross-
examination, but his accomplice was completely
broken down by Charles Russell, and gave away the
show. Thomas was afterwards tried on a criminal
charge, and got seven years' penal servitude.

"Dec. 5. Down to Edinburgh for the Trawling
Commission. The Commissioners were Lord
Dalhousie, E. Marjoribanks (afterwards Lord Tweed-
mouth), W. S. Caine, J. Brady, and Huxley. The
last named, however, was too busy to attend regu-
larly."

The reference to the Commission was to enquire
into the allegations of the line fishermen, that the
trawlers not only interfered with their fishing and
destroyed their gear, but that they were also seriously
affecting the supply of food fishes. Now, although
there is no necessary connection between these
two questions, it was found, as the enquiry proceeded,
that they always appeared together, and that in the
seas where the physical collision between the fisher-
men and trawlers was slight, the injurious effect of
trawling upon the fish supply did not strike the
fishermen so greatly, a curious instance of the difficulty
of obtaining scientific truth in any question where the

2i8 TRAWLING COMMISSION [XII.

investigation of natural laws depends upon human
evidence. The methods of the two industries made
this collision as inevitable as when one gentleman at
an Irish fair is dragging a coat, and another is looking
for a coat to tread upon. " Trawling " consisted in
dragging a beam-trawl net some twenty to thirty feet
long down the stream of the tide in areas frequented
by fish. " Fishing " was carried on by nets and lines
extending from two to eight miles across the tidal
current, whose presence on the surface was only to
be ascertained by occasional small buoys. Both
"trawling" and "fishing" are mainly followed in
the dusk or dark. Taking these facts into considera-
tion, it was not a matter for surprise that collisions
were frequent, and that the nets and lines, rather than
the trawls, suffered in the process. Nor was it difficult
to understand that in such conditions no love was lost
between the fishermen and the trawlers, and that when
a bad season occurred after a good one, Fisherman A,
who had long looked on Trawler X as the source of
all evil, easily found the cause of the change.

In order to get some evidence of the actual results of
trawling as studied by an impartial person trained to
habits of observation, Professor Mclntosh of St.
Andrews was appointed a sub-commissioner, and
arrangements were made that he should be taken out
once a fortnight for eight months by one of the
Trawling Companies on the ordinary fishing-grounds,
and allowed to examine the contents of the trawl when
brought up. The Professor was not, I believe, a good
sailor, but he went regularly to sea in pursuance of
his office during the worst months of the year, and
appeared on deck with his bottles, whatever the hour
or the weather when the trawl was lifted, a display of

1883-85] TRAWLING COMMISSION 219

enthusiasm in the cause of science which ought not to
be left unrecorded.

The evidence taken, of trawlers, fish curers and
fishermen was extremely interesting, but showed the
most diverse opinions as to the habits of the fish and
the effects of the various ways of fishing. The
ignorance of the fishermen as to many of the
phenomena among which they lived was quite
staggering, and somewhat shook one's faith in
untrained experience. As a class of men, I think they
were the finest I have ever seen, which is not to be
wondered at, as they are almost the only persons in
these days who are constantly face to face with danger.
But it cannot be said that they were altogether fitted
to give accurate evidence, as they did not possess the
educated faculty necessary for close observation, or, if
they did observe, it was through the glasses of
tradition, which constantly inclined them to mistake
inferences for facts. As an instance of this it may be
mentioned that they maintained to a man that all
spawn sank to the bottom, herring spawn being the
only spawn in fact to which this property attaches.

The following extracts relate to our tour on the
north-east coast, which lasted about a fortnight.

" Dec. 14. At Grimsby. Allwards showed us over
their fish pontoon. Went on board a trawler that
had had a rough time of it in the gale. Her boat
mere matchwood. Saw the fish being sold from the
pontoon. The trawled fish looked much knocked
about. Went on to a cod-boat, inspected her well,
saw perforated chests filled with live cod floating in
the harbour.

"Dec. 16. Scarborough. Very heavy gale from the
west, working north-east with heavy sea. Thirty
boats are out from here fishing on the Dogger Bank.
Dalhousie telegraphed to the Admiralty, who

220 A GALE AT SCARBOROUGH [XII.

answered that they would send the ' Sea-Horse ' to
look for them as soon as practicable. Up at the
Castle one could hardly stand against the wind.
After dinner went down to the pier. Groups of
women with their shawls over their heads staring
into the storm and darkness, the great seas flying
over the pier.

" Dec. 17. Several of the boats heard of from Hull
and Bridlington, only thirteen now missing. Two of
these appeared later in the offing, and had to knock
about till the tide served for coming into the harbour.
We went down about 3 to see the smacks come in.
A moving sight. The pier was crowded with people,
mostly women and children, and as the first boat
came rushing in on the great waves, there was a dead
silence. She rounded to under the quay, and the
men began to stow the sails and coil away the ropes,
without taking any notice of the crowd. The others
all followed in the same way. It was thoroughly
British, but there was something fine about it. The
boats didn't seem much the worse, except that most
had lost their fishing gear, and had their canvas split."

1884. As the Trawling Commission, when not
taking evidence, only required supervision and dis-
charge of correspondence, I resumed my regular life
at the Bar this year, and went on with my Times
reporting. In addition to my other work, I had
lately been made an Examiner of the Court by Lord
Selborne. The duties of this post were intermittent,
and not either lively or lucrative, but they brought a
certain amount of grist to the mill. The Examiner
had to take down the examination of certain witnesses
ordered by the Court to be examined. He had no
power to disallow any question, all he could do was
to make a note that it had been objected to ; nor
had he any authority over the counsel appearing
before him, who were constantly wrangling with each
other, and were inclined to treat the Examiner as an

1883-85] TABLEAUX VIVANTS 221

inferior being — which indeed he was. His only
resource was to threaten to adjourn, a course which
would have brought extra expense on the unoffending
parties.

" Feb. 28. To a lecture at the R. A. by Charles Newton
on the discoveries in Greek sculpture since 1850. The
lecturer dealt with the street of the tombs at Athens,
the altar of Pergamus, and a frieze on a tomb in
Lycia. He suggested, though not convincingly, that
this last was perhaps copied from the lost paintings
of Polygnotus. He was very sarcastic about the
present, as compared with the past behaviour of
England in collecting works of art, his remarks being
received with great applause by the students."

In March this year I made my one and only
appearance on a public stage. My friend Edward
Poynter was getting up some tableaux to be exhibited
at Prince's Hall on behalf of a charity. One of his
men threw him over, and he appealed to me to take
the part.

"March 3. Went to Poynter's Academy lecture on
Greek sculpture. It was very good, but the students
didn't applaud to anything like the extent they did at
Newton's lecture. The applause is rather puerile.
It does not seem to be evoked by a good passage on
the subject of the lecture, but by the mention of
something familiar to the auditors like 'South Ken-
sington ' or ' The Venus of Milo.'

" March 6. To a rehearsal of the tableaux at Prince's
Hall before a large audience. In the green-room con-
fusion reigned. Jephthah was rouging himself at one
looking-glass, at another was an Assyrian with greaves
below and flannel waistcoat above, while a frightened-
looking savage stood by in an ulster. When the
tableau came on I appeared as Calchas with a large
knife upraised above ' Iphigenia,' a handsome, well-
nourished young woman. It was not at all shy work,
as there was nothing to do or say, and one saw only

222 MELLS [XII.

the scene in front of one. The main difficulty was to
stand for some minutes in the same position without
shaking."

The actual performance took place before the Prince
and Princess of Wales, Tennyson, and a lot of
notables a few days after, and went off without any
adventure.

On March 7th I paid the first of many visits to
Mells, where my friends the Homers had lately taken
up their quarters. It was an old-fashioned house,
like a lot of packing cases set down side by side and
joined with doors. The park an attractive one, just
the right mixture of nature and culture. The Burne-
Jones pictures looked a little strange in the comfort-
able rooms, especially an immense cartoon for
tapestry, representing Love with great red wings.

" April 2. Reporting. The case, a libel against a
school board officer. The well-known Miss H. Taylor
a witness. I was glad to see that, though reputed one
of the most strong-minded of ladies, she could not
dispense with salts and fan, so there is hope for men
yet in the struggle for existence. On the other hand,
a clever Miss R. was too much for the Q.C. who
cross-examined her ; though feminine withal, showing
strong bias in every word.

"April 20. Gosford. Lowell the American there.
He told us of the Zulu proverb ' He who lives long
has a great many old clothes.' He said he thought
Home Rule pure and simple, impossible. Recom-
mended Parnell or Davitt being offered the Irish
Secretaryship, as it would quiet Ireland, and force
their hands. As an instance of his view that the mass
of ignorant people always went straight on great
questions, he instanced the vote of America against
the repudiation of payment of the debt in gold after
the war.

"April 24.. Newcastle. Assizes. Dined with Hawkins
(afterwards Lord Brampton). He was in great form,

1883-85] HUXLEY 223

giving many stories of old Montagu Chambers. The
only one worth putting down is his translation of
triajuncta in uno, which he translated to a jury, ' As
we should say, killing two birds with one stone,
gentlemen.'

"April 28. Durham. A curious murder case tried.
The prisoner's wife ran away with her lover, a
pitman. The prisoner heard where she was living
and went after her. When he arrived the lover was
down the pit on the night-shift. The prisoner passed
the night with his wife and killed her at dawn. This
is more like Spain or Italy than England.

"May 9 — 10. Down to Tonquay, and to Brixham on
Saturday, where the Trawling Commission held a
sitting, Brixham being the only place south of
Grimsby where trawling is carried on to any extent.

"May 12. Torquay. Huxley discoursed at break-
fast. He said that the female could never compete
with the male, she had no permanence. His ex-
perience led him to agree that ' female virtue was the
noblest product of the male imagination.' (He
appeared to be quite serious). If women sought
equality, men would cease to keep establishments,
and free love and public creches would result. He
then got on to education. He condemned classics,
and over-intellectual education for the average boy,
but he would send a boy to the University if he could,
as character and practicality were the most important
part of the education of the average boy, which
depended much on physique. Only about five per
cent, of the men he had taught got real results from
intellectual training. Intellect was very rare, most
men being much the same. Huxley is not at all like
the traditional man of science, but a thorough man of
the world, and excellent company.

" June 8. To service at St. George's, chapel,
Windsor. It is a wonderful place. It hardly seems
a part of present life, but as though all tne deep
gorgeousness of the past, chased from its old shrines,
had been gathered together there as in a casket.
The banners, the brasses, the swords, the coloured
windows affect the sense with a dreamy feeling like
the odours of an enchanted palace. The only dis-
cordant note was the badly-executed modern work on

224 LAURA TENNANT [XII.

some of the brasses, which, being lower in the stalls,
are the more seen.

"June 1 8. An evening party at Mr. Gladstone's.
The great man mistook me for someone else, and
gave me his hand to shake. The heat of it was quite
extraordinary. His eyes were dark and fiery, and
there was a something of wildness in his look."

At this gathering I was introduced to a young lady.
I remember noticing that she was very small, and
beautifully dressed, but nothing else about her made
an impression, though in a few months it was to be
far otherwise. She was Laura Tennant, afterwards
Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton.

" Aug. 2. Andrew Lang came to see me to ask if I
would write an article for ' Harper's Magazine ' on
the London season. It was to be illustrated, and to
contain about 7,000 words. I consented."

On August 1 2th this year I went to Inverinate, a
place on Loch Alsh in the Western Highlands, which
had been taken by Mr. Graham. After a few days
Miss Laura Tennant, whom I have mentioned before,
came to stay, fresh from one of those curious pro-
gresses which Mr. Donald Currie used to arrange for
Mr. Gladstone in his steamers. My acquaintance
with Miss Tennant, which led to a close intimacy with
herself, and afterwards with her family, was an event
of such importance in my life that I feel I ought to
attempt some description of her. This is not an easy
task, as a more indescribable person never existed, for
no one could form a correct idea of what she was like
who had not had opportunities of feeling her personal
charm. Her looks were certainly not striking at first
sight, though to most persons who had known her
some weeks she would often seem almost beautiful.
To describe her features would give no idea of the

1883-85] LAURA TENNANT 225

brightness and vivacity of her expression, or of that
mixture of innocence and mischief, as of a half-child,
half-Kelpie, which distinguished her. Her figure was
very small but well made, and she was always prettily
and daintily dressed. If the outward woman is difficult
to describe, what can be said of her character?

To begin with her lighter side, she had reduced
fascination to a fine art in a style entirely her own. I
have never known her meet any man, and hardly any
woman, whom she could not subjugate in a few days.
It is as difficult to give any idea of her methods as to
describe a dance when the music is unheard. Perhaps
one may say that her special characteristic was the
way in which she combined the gaiety of a child with
the tact and aplomb of a grown woman, the result
doubtless of her French descent. Her victims, after
their period of enchantment, generally became her
devoted friends.

This trifling was, however, only the ripple on the
surface. In the deeper parts of her nature was a fund
of earnestness and a sympathy which enabled her to
throw herself into the lives of other people in a quite
unusual way, and was one of the great secrets of the
general affection she inspired. It was not, however,
as is sometimes the case with such feelings, merely
emotional, but impelled her to many kindnesses and
to constant, though perhaps somewhat impulsive,
efforts to help her fellows of all sorts and conditions.

On her mental side she certainly gave the impres-
sion, from the originality of her letters and sayings,
and her appreciation of what was best in literature, that
her gifts were of a high order. In addition she had a
subtle humour and readiness, which made her repartees
often delightful, and produced phrases and fancies of

L.L. Q

226 THE GRANTULLY CASTLE [XII.

characteristic daintiness. But there was something
more than all this, an extra dose of life, which caused
a kind of electricity to flash about her wherever she
went, lighting up all with whom she came in contact.
I am aware that this description will seem exaggerated,
and will be put down to the writer having dwelt in
her " iEaean isle," but I think that if it should meet the
eyes of any who knew her in her short life, they will
understand what it attempts to convey.

"Aug. 17. Inverinate. Miss T. told us about the
Pembroke Castle trip of last year. Never was such
a menagerie on board a ship. Gladstone and
Tennyson the lions, surrounded by a crowd of
doctors, society persons, toadies and bores, all wor-
shipping. Into this mixture were suddenly discharged
at Copenhagen three or four kings and their familiars
and suites. ' The toadies and society persons had a
happy day, and the bores have been borer ever
since.' "

On leaving Inverinate I had an experience of what
travelling must have been in old days, tying my port-
manteau on to a horse and walking across the hills to
Affaric. I suppose in those times luggage was small,
and packed in vehicles suitable for being borne on a
horse, for I found the difficulty of balancing port-
manteau and bags was excessive, and could only be
overcome with the help of great stones.

" Aug. 22. Edinburgh. Called on Blackwood, for
whom 1 had written one or two articles, and was
kindly received. He took me into the room where the
old Blackwoodians used to meet, a solidly furnished
place with a big round table and portraits of North,
Hamilton and others on the walls — a shrine of great
interest to a minor scribbler."

On my way south I paid a visit to the Glen, the
home of my newly-made friend, Miss Tennant. That

1883-85] THE GLEN 227

young lady, having to speed the parting of a rejected
suitor by driving him to Peebles, took the opportunity
to meet me at the station and carry me out in her dog-
cart. The situation of the Glen was attractive, as were
all its inmates, though Sir Charles Tennant was some-
what gloomy, as he had favoured the suitor, and the
American money market was in an unsettled state.
Lady Tennant was a delightfully placid person, who
was allowed a great deal of liberty by her daughters,
and seldom interfered in social arrangements.

The life and habits of the younger generation at the
Glen were in those days entirely novel to me, and
though somewhat startling to an early Victorian,
caused a "joy of eventful living" that I had never
thought could exist except in a book.

There was no attempt at anything like chaperonage,
all the old-fashioned restrictions as to the manner or
place of companionship between young men and
maidens being entirely ignored ; but with such a
complete freedom from self-consciousness that after a
time it seemed just as natural as it does to suspend the
ordinary rules in regard to the attitude of the sexes
during a valse. Indeed the life at Glen from its gaiety
and abandon might have been compared to a perpetual
valse, not, however, without a good deal of interesting
and sparkling talk in the intervals of the dance.

The family had not then become as well known in
society as they afterwards were, and there was not the
usual crowd of worshipping visitors in the house, the
guests being only one or two young men. Margot,
now Mrs. Asquith, was the only one of the children
at home besides Laura. She was in many ways very
like Laura, though at that time fonder of outdoor life
and less literary.

Q2

228 TRAWLING COMMISSION REPORT [XII.

" Sept. 23. Was shown the Miss Tennants' sleeping
chamber, a pretty room hung round with sporting
prints of hunting scenes, ' Tom and Jerry ditto,
prize-fights, etc. Between the two little beds is a box
for the East London poor, and a skull. In the corners
shelves with all sorts of books, from New Testaments
to French novels, altogether a unique apartment from
the extraordinary jumble of sport, literature and
virtu."

I left this " Circean isle " for the realities of the
Revision Courts, which were got through without
mishap, and I do not find anything worth recording.

"Nov. i. Escrick. J. told us that when he was at
Harrow the class had to do some English verses on
Spring. One boy produced the following stanza : —

' Now the woods resound with song
Of nightingale and ptarmigong

And joyous cock phea-s««f.' "

1885. During the early part of this year I was
occupied in drafting with Lord Dalhousie the report
of the Trawling Commission, resuming in the intervals
my legal reporting and work as an Examiner.

My newly-made acquaintance with the Tennants
gave a great impulse to the social side of my life, and
I was introduced to their house in Grosvenor Square,
with its beautiful pictures and mezzotints, and saw a
great deal of them and their friends when they were
in London.

"Feb. ii. The last meeting of the Trawling Com-
mission in Old Palace Yard, and the Report was
shortly afterwards laid before Her Majesty. The
Commissioners found that the complaints of the
damage to the fisherman's gear were borne out, but
as regards the more important question of the effect
of trawling on the fish supply, reported that, though
there had been falling off in the takes in many inshore
waters, the fishermen had failed to connect this in any

1883-85] MYSTICISM IN ART 229

way with the use of the trawl net, while no decrease,
except in the case of soles, had been found in the total
takes of the North Sea."

When the meeting was over, I went with Marjori-
banks to visit the scene of the recent explosion in the
House of Commons. We found everything in great
confusion, the woodwork being repaired with deal,
and a large hole in the floor above the crypt. Inspector
Denning showed us round, and said that he had been
quite nervous ever since. The packet of dynamite
was put in a narrow stair going up to the Strangers'
Gallery. It is wonderful that an explosion in this
confined place should not have 'done more harm.

"March 29. Poynter dined. Inter aha discussed
whether imperfect execution necessary for mystical
art. I suggested that there could be a higher mysticism
of the intellect which could go with first-rate execution,
as in the case of Michael Angelo. Poynter said that
painters such as Burne-Jones, Rossetti, and even
Durer, depended much for their mysticism on imperfect
execution.

"April 29. Saw A., just back from Suakim. He left
England on February i9th, was back on April ipth.
He was a fortnight at the war, saw all the fighting,
killed two Arabs, and was wounded in the hand,
which did not in the least interfere with his general
health. Now he is back in civilization, and is more or
less of a hero. A curious episode in the life of a man
about town."

May. In this month I joined the " Ambarum " Club.
It was a society made up of an equal number of men
from both universities, who were supposed to be
distinguished by learning, or pleasant socially.

"May 21. Law Courts. Oneof the female plaintiffs-
in-person, who have been started by the success of
Mrs. Weldon, appeared in my Court. She was of
unprepossessing appearance, unlike her prototype,

23o TYNEMOUTH-WARDS [XII.

with a coal-scuttle bonnet and a mottled countenance.
She read interminable questions from a paper she
held in her hand, Denman, his face the picture of
resigned misery, occasionally checking her.

" June 7. All Souls'. Mr. Goschen there. He is
by no means a blind admirer of Mr. Gladstone, in
fact he seemed a generally critical man ; but not at all
above ordinary society talk. He said that Gibson had
been through all the Midlothian speeches as a lawyer
in order to try and catch Gladstone, and had failed
to find any specific statement to which he could pin
him. There were three phrases constantly recurring.
' In the main,' ' Under the special circumstances of the
case,' and another which Mr. Goschen had forgotten."

Saturday, June 2ist, was the last day of my
youth. On that day I went to Wilton, leaving my
father unwell with a carbuncle on his neck. When I
returned on the Monday he was seriously ill, and died
on the Sunday after.

I have not said anything about the deeper emotions
of my life in this narrative, and about this, my greatest
sorrow, I shall say no more. I continued to live with
my two unmarried sisters in our old home, Miss
Atkinson, my mother's governess, now a very old
woman, remaining an inmate of our house.

In the beginning of July I went down to Newcastle
to do a piece of work which was new to me, viz., an
inquiry held with a view to dividing the borough of
Tynemouth into wards. This I owed to the kindness
of Sir W. Harcourt, the then Home Secretary, and
perhaps I may say here that none of my father's friends
showed a truer or more tactful sympathy in our sorrow
than he did. The place was placarded with large
notices of the inquiry, and my own name met me on all
the ugly chapel doors as I threaded the dingy streets to
the Town Hall. I had not the least idea on what

1883-85] WATTS

principle the boundaries of wards were determined,
but experience had taught me that if you are civil and
hold your tongue, ignorance is of small consequence
to a person in a quasi-judicial position. The Mayor
and other local magnates were all seated round a
table in the Town Hall, and I made them a little
speech as to what I had come to do, and then I
gradually found out what was necessary, and we
finished in great harmony. I bore away two large
maps in triumph, on which I had settled to make some
blue places pink and some yellow places blue. Then
the Town Clerk gave me lunch in an old-fashioned
house on the steep bank above the Tyne, looking
down on that dirty but rather grand water, with its
anchored and moving ships, and its troops of tall
chimneys guarding the banks.

"June 15. Went to Watts' studio. He is a small,
delicate-looking man with a grey beard and bright
brown eyes, dressed in a gown and a skull-cap like a
Venetian old master. He talked to us of some of his
pictures — firstly of a half-finished oil-painting of the
4 Death of Cain.' The idea was to nave a series ;
Cain to be invisible, as part of the curse, and to go
about the world with no feeling for other men, and
no part in their joys and sorrows, until just before his
death, when, by God's impulse, the good in him
surges up, he feels a flow of sympathy for his fellows,
and dies in the full light of heaven.

" We saw several other pictures new to me, as to
which I shall not say anything. Except that in one
case of a charcoal drawing the artist had had a photo-
graph taken, and pointed out to us how much the
effect and mystery of the design was heightened by
the photo darkening the whole mass of figures, and so
turning into light behind them that which in the
drawing was merely background."

Early in August I went to Felixstowe with my
sisters, under the following circumstances. There

232 MR. TOMLINE [XII.

was a certain Mr. Tomline, an old bachelor, living at
Orwell, near Ipswich, who had been a friend of my
father's at Oxford. He was quite unknown to us, but
had a reputation for being eccentric and exceedingly
obstinate. He was said to be the only man in England
who had owned a railway, the line from Ipswich to
Felixstowe being at one time run by him, and the
officials all wearing his livery. He had also been
famous for a dispute with the Bank of England.
Holding that every subject had a right to have bullion
coined if he wished it, he used to discharge cart-
loads of silver spoons and teapots at the Mint, and
claim that they should be converted into half-crowns.

Shortly after my father's death I got a letter from
Orwell, saying that Mr. Tomline, who also owned
most of Felixstowe, would be happy to place his villa
there at our disposal for a month, which he did, pro-
viding a chaise and two black ponies for my sisters,
and sending us frequent gifts of fruit and vegetables.

In the middle of the month I went North and began
the first of a series of nineteen annual visits to a region
where so many happy days were afterwards spent,
that no life of mine would be complete without a few
words on the subject. This was Rodono, in Peebles-
shire, a region on the shore of St. Mary's Loch. Lord
Wemyss owned a large tract of the country to the
south of St. Mary's Loch, and thence westward to the
head waters of the Meggatt ; a region of great rounded
whinstone hills, covered on the tops with heather, and
with a garment of fern clinging about their feet like a
robe that had been just thrown off. The party, which
generally consisted of four guns and Lady Wemyss
as chatelaine, stayed at the hotel at Rodono, perched
above the shore of the loch, and had six or seven

1883-85] REVISION WORK 233

days grouse-driving in the surrounding butts. It
was fine old-fashioned shooting, requiring a deal of
hard walking and a deal of patience, as the weather on
that backbone of the island is generally wild, and the
steepness of the hills often made it difficult to get the
birds over the guns. The bags varied between 20
and loo brace.

The 8th September beheld me in very different
scenes, in a small hotel at Sheffield beginning the
" Revision" under the new franchise.

The work was much heavier than before. Not only
were the numbers on the lists greatly increased, but
the introduction of the " lodger " brought in a crop of
new questions.

I will give the reader a specimen of one of the
smaller days.

" Sept. 19. Left Wortley 10.30. After various
changes got to Woodlesford at two. Walked up to
Mason's Arms with some of the claimants — nice sort of
men. Was struck with the poetical turn of one old
collier, who said that a pretty church we saw among
the trees was ' Away from all the bluster of anything
else but worship.' Sat at the New Mason's Arms ;
began about two, all over at 3.40..

" Oct. ii. Gosford. Mr. S., an American. He has a
great fund of stories and facetiae at his command, and
when these fail brings out conundrums. Here are some
of them : — Gambetta said that the Orleanists were
called ' doctrinaires ' because they had no ' doctrine/
as ' poitrinaires ' are so called because they have no
' poitrine.' ' Ris de Veau a la Financtere ' he trans-
lated ' The laugh of the calf at the rich banker's wife.'
I will finish with one of his conundrums : ' What was
the cause of the Irish famine ? The rot-tatery motion
of the earth.'

"Oct. 31. Newcastle Assizes. A great event. I got
a docker and got the prisoner off. I had not many
single-handed defences during my time at the Bar, but

234 THE ADMIRALTY [XII.

this I really believe was the only one in which I was
entirely successful.

"Nov. 15. Dined at the Admiralty. Good, rather
gloomy house, with old pictures of naval battles,
Cook's voyages, and former naval celebrities. Over
the chimney-piece in the Board-room there is a dial,
on which an arrow traverses to show the way of the
wind. Now it is only an interesting relic, but I could
not help thinking how anxiously its movements may
have been followed in former times by the old
Admirals sitting round the council table. G. H. said
that he was making many changes in the organisation
of the office, and that there was a question now before
them of doing away with ' stun sails ' — shades of
Marryat and Tom Cringle !

" Dec. 6. Windsor. Went up to St. George's after
dinner to hear Parratt play the organ. It was very
impressive — sitting in the dark among the tombs of
kings, the lights of the Windsor streets glimmering
faintly through the windows like the glamour of the
world into a holy life, the great hollows of the roof
just visible in the distant light of the organ loft, then
the stream of music surging up from the organ and
eddying round the dark aisles, till the whole place and
one s own heart was full of it."

CHAPTER XIII
1885—1886

Examinership — Mardy Colliery Enquiry — Ipswich Election Petition
— Henry Matthews — Baronscourt — The Dales — Revision Cir-
cuit— Intellectual Games — Laurence Oliphant — Offer of Chief
Clerkship in Crown Office.

AT the end of 1885, I was made Junior Examiner
in Common Law for the Inns of Court examination, a
post I held for a year. The Senior Examiner set the
papers, but I had to take half the students in viva voce
and look over half the papers. The examination was
held in Lincoln's Inn Hall, and generally attended by
seventy to eighty candidates, many of them from India,
who answered their papers with that curious exuber-
ance of words and absence of meaning which prevails in
their English writing. This was the first time I had
ever done any examining, and I found looking over
the papers wearisome work. I remember on the last
occasion that I acted, the Senior Examiner forgot the
day. I therefore had to preside alone, and had not
been long in that proud position when a Hindoo came
up and said there was a misprint in the paper. I
looked at the question to which the man referred, and
could not for the life of me understand it. However, I
sternly bade him go back to his seat. At lunch the
Senior Examiner appeared, and I was much relieved
to find that the misprint was a figment of the Hindoo's
brain.

236 MARDY COLLIERY ENQUIRY [XIII.

In the long spell of cold, which began the year 1886,
I went off to South Wales on a very different piece of
work, viz., to hold an enquiry for the Treasury into
the causes of the explosion which had lately taken
place at the Mardy Colliery. I knew nothing on earth
about collieries, except that I had once or twice been
down a pit in the North Country, so I was a little uneasy
as to how I should acquit myself. On arriving in the
region of Cardiff I was much struck by the slight
effect produced by the smokeless coal on the face of
Nature in the neighbourhood of towns and pits as
compared with North Country coal. It was quite
common to see a pretty ferny hill or thriving wood
close to a town, or grass and fern running right up to
the skirts of a colliery.

The cause of the accident was uncertain. One story
was that it was due to the careless handling of lights
in the neighbourhood of fire-damp, another that it was
caused by the explosion of a " shot " setting fire to the
coal dust floating in the passages of the mine; a " shot "
being a cartridge placed in a hole bored in the rock and
then exploded.

After a Sunday with Lord Aberdare at Duffryn — a
most suitable place for a person to stay who was con-
cerned about coal, as it had pits on every side of it,
except skywards — I employed the day before the
enquiry in viewing the scene of the disaster, as
described by the following extract.

" I was received with great deference, being attended
by two Government Inspectors, and after looking at
plans and putting on old clothes, the manager took us
to the scene of the accident to examine the place with
reference to the theories of the cause of the explosion.
I put my white silk handkerchief into one of the shot
holes to see if the cartridge had been fired in the hole

i88s-86] MARDY COLLIERY ENQUIRY 237

or not, and lo, when I pulled it out again, it had to be
impounded as an important witness, and was left in
the custody of two managers and an overseer."

I found the Welsh pits convenient places compared
with those in the North, as from the greater height of
the seam it was possible to walk about all the main
galleries without stooping. I did not think that the
pit seemed very dusty.

To get to Mardy I had to go every morning some
distance by train, with three changes ; and very cold
work it was. For a description of the enquiry I will
quote the letter which I have used above.

" Mardy consists of one long street, wherein is the
Mardy Hotel and groups of gazing villagers. The
first day we sat in a room of astonishing size for such
a small place, being a sort of theatre-room, where they
hold concerts, lectures on the ' Rights of Man,' etc.
The Coroner examines the witnesses, and then Mr. L.
is deferentially asked if he wants to put any questions.
Everyone thinks Mr. L. quite a personage, but I have
grave doubts whether he is of any use. So it goes on
till about 2.30, when the jury rise and eat boiled beef,
the Coroner and other magnates roast goose, and
Mr. L. pulls out his sandwiches, and then goes out
and takes the air. On his return the same thing goes
on till six, when whistles are heard from our engine,
and we go back to Cardiff."

Mr. Abraham, M.P., appeared for the workmen, a
short, square man with a fine rich colouring, who was
called " Mabon," the meaning of which I could not
discover. He was very friendly, as were all the jury
and the Coroner, a good, stout, little Welshman, who
did his work well enough. I thought the Welsh pit-
men a nice-looking set, a good deal gentler than
their North-Country brethren, and with soft voices
instead of a " burr."

238 MARDY COLLIERY ENQUIRY [XIII.

My chief difficulty was out of my very superficial
knowledge to cross-examine all the colliery people,
who were thoroughly at home in the subject, without
making a fool of myself. This difficulty was a good
deal increased when I came to the agent, who was the
cleverest of them all, and who broke down when he
told about the recovery of the bodies. However, I
went at him as mildly as possible, though feeling
rather a brute.

The enquiry lasted for five days, sitting for about
six hours daily. I got back to Cardiff dead tired each
night and very cold, but I do not think I ever felt a
greater sense of content than I did during those five
days.

There is no doubt that work and struggle is the
natural state of man. One is never so happy as when
at high pressure. Whether it is the highest state is
another question. It certainly weakens the mental
and moral departments which are not in use ; there
is no steam to go into the other cylinders. This
is one reason why " struggle-for-lifers " often seem
so selfish or narrow-minded to those in easy
circumstances.

The case was really one of unusual interest, as it
was one of the first, if not the first, in which the
danger of coal dust began to be suspected. When I
had heard all the evidence I was convinced that the
explosion had been caused by dust, and not fire-damp,
and I reported to this effect. Dust is now every-
where looked upon as a dangerous agent, and galleries
and headings where it prevails in large quantities are
always watered.

I had hardly got the Mardy enquiry off my mind
when I got another piece of work of a novel kind.

1885-86] IPSWICH ELECTION PETITION 239

" Feb. 1 8, 1886. Found a letter at Chambers from
the Attorney-General saying that I was to attend the
Ipswich Election Petition on behalf of the Director of
Public Prosecutions. Another period of agitation, I
suppose. The procedure is quite new, and there is
no one to consult as to how to act. Apparently, the
duty is that of a kind of inquisitor, who is to get hold
of anyone he thinks ought to be prosecuted for
corrupt practices.

" March 8. Went down to Ipswich to attend
the Election Petition lodged against the return of
Henry West and Jesse Collings. Travelled with
West, Waddy, Q.C., and Asquith " (the present Prime
Minister).

The hearing of this petition lasted about ten days.
Henry Matthews was counsel for the petitioner. This
was the first time I had met him, and I was much
struck with his powers. I think he was then just
sixty, but he said he had never known what it was
to feel tired. As a boy he had been familiar with
Madame Rdcamier. Indeed, his reminiscences of all
kinds were very interesting, specially his electioneer-
ing experiences at Dungarvan, and his legal stories.
I remember that he said Campbell was the best all-
round Judge whom he had known, " wonderful for
his massive vigorous sense and sagacity," and that
Channell was the last of the old-fashioned legal
Judges.

" March 10. Ipswich. About 12.30 it occurred to me
that I ought to get up, and ask to be allowed to go
on with an interview which was not evidence in the
petition. Nervous torpor came on very strong, and I
was long in two minds about getting up, but at last I
did. The Court, counsel, and spectators all looked as
if a ghost had suddenly risen. However, I was
allowed to put my question.

" March 1 1. At the end of the enquiry H. Matthews

24o BARONSCOURT [XIII.

made a very able speech, holding up Mr. Jesse Collings
to ridicule with such trenchant vigour that I quite
pitied him. The result was that the two Liberal
members were unseated. I was glad when the
enquiry was over, as it was unpleasant feeling that I
was not earning my money adequately. However,
I recommended one or two prosecutions, and I think
one of them was eventually successful."

On April 24th, Laura Lyttelton died, and on the
28th I went over from Gosford to Traquhair to her
funeral.

"June ii. I accompanied George Hamilton to
Baronscourt, his brother's place in Ireland- It
occupies the whole of a lovely wooded valley, with
no park fence but the horizon, and a rich vegetation
almost like Devonshire. Above the house is visible a
long crest of purple heather.

"June 13. Baronscourt. Visited a farm. There was
a good cart in the dirty farmyard, which swarmed with
yellow-haired, blue-eyed, red-cheeked children, bare-
footed, ragged, and dirty. The father, a huge man,
with handsome clear-cut features and blue eye, and a
shying swaggering manner. He was fairly dressed,
but the wife was very dirty. The inside of the house
like a scene on the stage, rafters bearing clothes and
bacon, a great fireplace with a pot swinging from a
bar, on one side a cradle. Afterwards to another farm
of a superior sort, quite clean, and with a parlour
having a carpet, tablecloth, and ornaments. I had
never seen the like in Ireland. The farmer, an
intelligent man in a dark suit. He had been a Liberal,
but was now a Unionist, as are all the Protestants
about here, for they say either they or the Romans
must pack.

" As we were going home we met another typical
specimen, about eighty years old, short and strong,
clothed shabbily, but substantially. He chaffed George
Hamilton for being a smaller man than his father, but
seemed to approve of my length, and told us an
incomprehensible tale about a joke made by a man
in Derry, as to somebody's growth and the growth of

1885-86] THE "DALES" 241

Popery; a genial, shrewd, dirty old Orangeman.
Frederick Hamilton told us a story about one of this
kidney, who was described to nim as a 'dacent,
religious-minded man.' ' What do you mean by
religious-minded ? ' he said. ' Whoi, he just walks up
and down in front of the Roman Catholic Chapel while
the mass is going on, foiring off his gun, and shouting
' Bloody end to the Pope ! '

"June 28. York. Dined with the Judges. Phelps,
the American Minister there, who had come down to
watch the procedure at Assizes. He made a pretty
good speech, the most interesting part of whicn was
when he spoke of the connection between English
and American law, and said that to know how well
justice was administered in England, you must have
been in a country where it was administered worse."

On August nth I went with my sister Gertrude to
Simonstone, a shooting-box in Wensleydale, belonging
to Lord Wharncliffe. This was my first visit to the
" dales," and I was rather disappointed with the
scenery. The hills were of the " dish-cover " sort, with
limestone crags cropping out at the top, and no
heather visible from the valleys. As a whole, the
limestone country is not attractive, although on closer
acquaintance you come upon little hollows in the sides
of the hills lined with birch and fern, each holding a
silvery treasure in the shape of a plashing burn.
Simonstone was about half-way up one of these hills.
The great feature of the place was a fine foss, which
was close to the house, where a beck fell over a steep
semi-circular wall made of ridges of limestone over-
hanging each other as they rose. On the high table-
lands are many curious cavities, locally known as
" butter tubs " ; great chambers, forty or fifty feet deep,
filled with limestone pillars, worn and fluted as if by
water.

In the middle of September I began my " revision "
L.L. R

242 REVISION CIRCUIT [XIII.

at Sheffield. The whole scheme of the circuits had
been recast, and instead of revising counties only, I
had now my share of the boroughs in my division,
which entailed night sittings. Sheffield borough
lasted a week, the Court starting at 10 a.m. and going
on till 9 p.m., with an interval of a couple of hours in
the afternoon.

The monotony of the work is what is so trying ; it
is to the brain what the old water torture was to the
head. Hour after hour you call out names and initial
alterations, listen to or ask the same questions, and
hear the same answers. The attention must never
flag, or a name may go off the list wrongly.

I stayed with a solicitor with whom I had made
friends. He lived in the suburbs of Sheffield, in a
queer old-fashioned house, with panelled rooms and
a smoky garden between brown-red walls ; and both
the house and the man always reminded me of the
Yorkshire men you meet in Charlotte Bronte's books,
as he combined a shrewd hard-headedness with a great
love of art, and possessed one or two interesting draw-
ings and pictures by old masters, by which he set great
store.

After the Newcastle Autumn Assizes I went to the
Glen. Lord Granville was one of the party. I thought
him much aged, but he poured forth an incessant flow
of stories. The only one which I have noted related
to some diplomat "who had a habit of putting his
tongue out, which someone explained by saying ' He
wishes to catch the foreign accent.' " I noticed that the
disease of intellectual games such as " styles," " bouts
rimes" " epitaphs," etc., of which symptoms had been
appearing in our clique for the last year or so, was
very pronounced. I must confess that I liked these

1885-86] LAURENCE OLIPHANT 243

diversions at first, but in after-times many new games
some of them foolish or dull, were added to the list,
and I think were overdone in the houses I mostly
frequented, so that at last I got heartily sick of the
pastime.

" Oct. 27. Gosford. Laurence Oliphant is here.
He tells us many interesting things about his travels
— notably an account of the attack upon the Japanese
Embassy by the anti-English party, lie was a member
of the Legation at the time, and had a terrible fight for
his life in a dark passage, getting a bad cut on the
head from a Japanese sword. While in the thick of
this melee his foot slipped, and he afterwards found it
had been on an eye, which was on the floor."

Oliphant was one of the strangest men I have ever
met. He was a sort of Ulysses as to experience and
capacity, with a strange twist in his mind, which led
him to all sorts of odd, unusual habits and beliefs
During this visit he told our hostess that his wife,
whom he had lost, was constantly standing over him.
One night going up to bed, he was seized with a touch
of wild spirits and danced a furious " can-can " with
Miss Margot Tennant on the landing. We could not
help wondering what his wife would think of it.

In November I went to Stanway to a shooting party
where were many friends. Here I saw Lord De Grey
shoot for the first time. What struck me most about
the performance was that he killed his long shots all
dead, just as an ordinary fair shot would drop a bird
at twenty yards. No doubt the rapidity with which
he got his gun off was another remarkable quality.
But this was not so visible in covert shooting as it
would have been in driving.

While on my Revision tour, I had got a letter from
my old friend, Kenneth Mackenzie, offering me the

R 2

244 OFFER OF CHIEF CLERKSHIP [XIII.

post of Chief Clerk in the Crown Office. Some five
or six years before the office of Lord Chancellor's
Principal Secretary had been made permanent, taking
in the office of the Clerk of the Crown, which had
formerly been a separate Department. The staff of
the two were at the same time combined and
located together in rooms at the House of Lords, the
Crown Office having formerly had rooms at the House
of Commons.

It will have been seen from various passages in this
history that I had no love of the law, so I was very
glad to accept my friend's offer, though the place was
a small one.

CHAPTER XIV
1886—1890

Chief Clerkship in the Crown Office — Parliament and Life in
London — The Jubilee — Naval Review — Osterley — Watts —
Verestchagin — Riots in London — Departmental Registration —
Whales — Killarney — F. Maitland — The Phonograph — G. O.
Trevelyan — Sir F. Gorst- Plymouth — Sackville Fox — I am
called as a Witness — Monkshatch — Royal Grants — Judge
Holmes— Mr. Chamberlain on Ghosts — America — Knole —
Tour in Tyrol — Taken for Mr. Parnell — The Oxford House —
Mr. Gladstone — The German Emperor in Norway — Dereen —
Parnell.

" Nov. 30, 1886. I got the formal letter from Kenneth
Mackenzie, offering me the chief clerkship in the
Crown Office. I can hardly believe that it will come
off, and when I look at the dingy backs of the Law
Journal or ' Taunton's Reports,' or walk the stuffy
passages of the Law Courts, I cannot realise that in a
short time I shall see them no more.

"Dec. i. These two days the happiest I have had
for many a year. No one who has not followed the
Bar and spent his time in laborious idleness, with rare
intervals of hard work done in terror of failure, or has
not felt the degradation of a small attorney passing
you by with contempt, and handing a guinea prosecu-
tion to the next man, or the apprehension of growing
old in an unsuccessful life, can tell what a joy it is to
me to quit the profession.

" Dec. 2. K. M. called for me, and I went with him to
the Crown Office. I found that I was to inhabit a
good room on the ground floor of the House of Lords,
the furniture and fittings of which were solid, and
quite without that look of worn squalor which is usual
in the den of a minor official in a Government
Department."

Perhaps at this point of my story I ought to give
the reader some idea of my new work. The Clerk of

246 THE CROWN OFFICE [XIV.

the Crown, in whose office I was Chief Clerk, was
probably in former times a sort of secretary to the
Lord Chancellor. As such he prepared all the
documents to which the Great Seal was to be affixed,
and it is with the issue of these that the Clerk of the
Crown is mainly concerned in the present day.
Roughly speaking, all the more important communi-
cations of the will of the Sovereign, the creation of
dignities, appointments, Commissions, Parliamentary
writs, are embodied in deeds which bear the Great
Seal, while it is the duty of the Clerk of the Crown to
see that these are prepared in terms which adequately
effect the King's pleasure. In many cases this pro-
cess merely consists in an accurate reproduction of
precedents, but it often happens that parts of the
text require to be changed to meet varying conditions,
and sometimes that entirely new precedents have to
be drafted.

About the time I went to the office considerable
reforms were gradually being effected, in the form of
the documents themselves and in the procedure of the
Department. The cumbrous old forms and phrases
were being shortened, and the work of the clerks
lightened by printing many of the standing parts of
the precedents instead of writing them.

All this part of the work, which often brought me
in touch with history and out-of-the-way law, I found
more to my taste than prosecuting "minters,"
especially as I had been in a conveyancer's chambers,
and always had a liking for drafting. A less agreeable
part of the work was examining all the documents
with the clerks before they were issued, which was
monotonous, and required some effort to prevent the
thoughts wandering.

1886-90] THE GREAT SEAL 247

" Dec. 14. Went up with the ' Sealer ' to the abode
of the Great Seal, and saw one made. The wax is not
put upon the paper or parchment as in ordinary seals,
but is in the shape of a large disc with an impression
on each side. This is kept in a tin or plated case, and
attached to the document by a tag imbedded in the
wax. Consequently the seal itself is not a signet, but
consists of two heavy silver plates, in one of which is
cut the impression for the front of the device, in the
other that for the back. The present plates were
made in 1878 at a cost of £700. When a seal is re-
quired, a large chunk of wax is first softened in hot
water, and then cooled in cold, after which it is placed
between the two plates, and pressed, emerging in the
shape above mentioned.

"•Jan. 27, 1887. Mr. Zwinger, my predecessor, came
to see me, to-day being the opening of Parliament.
He introduced me to a number of doorkeepers and
officials in both Houses, who were very pleasant.
This was necessary, because the Clerk of the Crown
and his Deputy are officers of the House of Commons
as well as the Lords, and in the former House may
stand at the Bar or behind the chair, whereas House
of Lords officials may only go into a corner of the
gallery."

A writ for a new member was to be issued, and I
went and stood behind the Speaker's chair till the writ
had been moved, and the Speaker had signed the
certificate.

The first speech I heard, indeed the first I had ever
heard in Parliament, was made by Lord Randolph
Churchill on his retirement. I thought it disappointing,
not above the level of a good debating society. Lord
Randolph was not an impressive speaker. His
appearance was not striking, and his statements about
expenditure too general to be effective, nor did he on
that occasion give the impression of the great ability
which he undoubtedly had.

" Jan. 28. Went into the House of Commons; heard

248 THE HOUSE OF COMMONS [XIV.

an effective speech from Colonel Saunderson. He is
a biggish, spare man, with a wisp of hair flattened
across a large, bald forehead, alert and saucy in his
manner. He was a real orator, and you felt him
inside you, which was not the case with Lord
Randolph. There was a good deal of fun in his
speech, almost too much, but it did not interfere with
the effect of the serious parts. He made Mr. Glad-
stone and the Irish wriggle, and there was a deal of
' booing.' But they seemed to me rather to like him in
reality.

'•'Jan. 31 Office. Went to the Commons. Not
being yet up to their ways, I got shut up in the House
during a (division. The Serjeant-at-Arms appeared
much agitated, and sent a myrmidon to hide me in a
washing-place. There I stood all through the division,
hearing distant shouts, and feeling like a conspirator
who would have his head cut off.

"March i. A lively scrimmage in the Commons.
One Howell brought a charge against the Corporation
of London for using their funds to support an associa-
tion which combated municipal reform. He was a
rough-mannered man, and, I think, read his speech, but
it was temperate and telling, Bradlaugh following in
in a more theatrical style. I was sitting just above
him, and noticed how his hand shook. Gladstone,
after one or two other speakers, closed the debate.
I had never heard him before. A curious accent
and a rather wild look, but a very picturesque head.
His speech was moderate, but he clearly saw his
opportunity.

" March 19. Sat next Mrs. K., one of the ladies
who, under the stress of modern life, makes bonnets.
She does it almost entirely herself, and can make five
in a day. Last year she made over 400 bonnets.

"March 22. When I got down to the office I found
that the House had been sitting all night. I went
over to the Commons. It was a curious sight. What
chiefly struck me was the extraordinary amount of
torn paper on the floor. Most of the members looked
fairly fresh. Elcho, in his great-coat, was half asleep
in the corner of the Bench opposite the Irish, and old

M sat in the middle of it, his large white head

drooping over his exposure of evening shirt. Balfour

1886-90] THE DUKE OF ARGYLL 249

looked much exhausted, though I believe he had been
away for a time.

"March 25. Lord Salisbury moved the first reading
of the Tithe Bill in the Lords. He is a wonderfully
easy speaker, no notes at all, and a very attractive
voice, and though often looking as if he were asleep,
seems to hear everything.

" March 28. Went to the Commons to hear Balfour
bring in the Crimes Bill. He seemed wanting in
force, and once or twice as though he were going to
break down. Perhaps it was only my nerves, as I
had lunched off tea, but I could hardly stand it, and
after a time went away. The Irish howled and jeered
in a way that was enough to upset any one ; and the
task for a man who had only been in the place a
fortnight was no light one."

At Easter this year my two unmarried sisters and
myself left our old home in Rutland Gate, where we
had lived for nineteen years, and went to 12, Halkin
Street West.

" April 22. The Duke of Argyll spoke in the Lords
on the political circumstances of the Irish Land Bill.
He was good, and hit hard. Mr. Gladstone stood
under the throne looking awful, his mouth turning
down till the corners went out at his chin. Meanwhile
the fiery little chieftain showed that from the political
economy point of view the Land Act of 1881 was a
failure. This he did admirably, but without much
effect, as both sides have ' banished that science to
Saturn.' He finished by saying that, considering that
the 1 88 1 Act was law, this Bill was necessary and
right. It was far the best speech that I have heard in
either house, more in the old Demosthenic style.

"April 25. Went into the Commons, heard Mr.
Gladstone on the Budget. Not so spiteful as speeches
generally are now, but he treated his finance quite
politically. He certainly made his dry subject very
interesting.

" April 26. I saw Miss Margot Tennant in her pony
carriage outside a shop. It appeared that she had
driven Mr. Gladstone from Dollis Hill, where he is

250 LAUNCH OF THE SANSPAREIL [XIV.

staying. As I talked to her, the old gentleman came
out of the shop looking less sour than usual, and
thinking I was some friend of his smiled at me.
Certainly a striking smile, and I thought what a fine
face it was.

"May 9. Went at 12 to the Speaker's Steps, where
a large gathering of Parliamentary and business folk
had met to attend the launch of the Sanspareil. On
arriving at the wharf of the Thames Iron Shipbuild-
ing Company at Blackwall, we saw the Sanspareil on
the slips, looking like a great cock-salmon with pro-
jecting under-jaw.

" Meanwhile a bell was clanging for people to
leave the vessel ; and our party mounted a platform
under her bows, where, on a ledge in a glass box,
reposed a silver axe. When all was ready, Lady George
Hamilton raised this weapon and cut a green string,
which let fall a heavy weight, dislodging the dog-
shores, and the ship glided into the river.

" There was a lunch in the joiners' shops. Speeches
afterwards, when the First Lord told us some interest-
ing facts about the Sanspareil family, the youngest
of which we had seen launched. He said that the
first Sanspareil was taken from the French in 1794.
The second, built in 1851, was practically the same,
with little increase in size, beam, or weight of metal.
Her heaviest gun was a 54-pounder. The third ship
of the name, which we had just seen, would be of
10,000 tons burthen, her biggest gun would weigh
no tons, and fire a shot weighing 14,748 Ibs.

" May 20. Went down to the Heralds' College, a
curious old place inhabited by a lot of officials with
old-world titles and occupations. My business was
to see ' Garter ' about Letters Patent, which were to
constitute a new 'Order of the Indian Empire.' Met
William Lindsay, who showed me the ' Court of
Chivalry/ a travesty of a Court in heavy black oak,
hung round with ancient banners. He afterwards let
me see the old pedigrees, which every peer formerly
had to deposit in the College to show who was his
heir, many of them with beautiful writing and finely
illuminated coats of arms.

" June i. Wilton. Went by train with Alfred
Lyttelton to Clouds, Mr. Wyndham's new place, and

1886-90] THE JUBILEE 251

walked back. A glorious afternoon, sunlit mists
blown about, giving a shadowy unworldliness to the
hard down-landscapes. We passed over wide stretches
of turf, dipping into combes studded with gorse and
juniper, or into secret hollows hiding little copses
or old moss-grown cattle-sheds.

"June 17. London intolerable. Wherever you go
there is a crowd on the footpath and a block in the
road. Every possible space has a platform or stand
upon it, and the place smells like a shipyard, and
sounds like one too. The hangings and decorations
often crude and ugly.

"June 21. The Jubilee. I saw the procession from
a stand in front of S. Margaret's. The Queen was
fairly cheered where I was, but I heard no cheering as
she approached. The finest figure in the procession
was the Crown Prince of Germany, looking big and
massive, but greatly aged since I last saw him, his
sandy beard now quite white. The persons most
cheered were the Queen of the Sandwich Islands and
the driver of a water cart.

"June 23. Went to Panshanger, Bret Harte was
there. I liked him, and got into talk. He gave a
picturesque description of Staffa, which had much
impressed him, though he said the Highlands were too
bare, and Nature there too poor. He quoted Long-
fellow once or twice, ' a hill hearsed with pines,' one
of his quotations.

"July ii. Saw two new peers take their seats, a
somewhat comic process. They are led about by
Garter King-at-Arms, a round, short man in a coat
embroidered with golden lions and harps. He leads
the new peers and their supporters about the House,
and makes them sit down on the benches allotted to
"their order, and then get up three times and take their
hats off to the Lord Chancellor — very much like
children playing at being peers.

"July 14. To-day I was made by a Treasury Order
' Assistant Secretary in the Lord Chancellor's Depart-
ment,1 but with no increase of salary. Went into the
Commons to hear Lord Randolph. He was very
clever, and while pretending to advise was damag-
ing to the Government, and oddly conciliatory to the
Irish, though he touched them up a little when he

252 NAVAL REVIEW [XIV.

said that they made statements as to grievances not in
close connection with fact. A good deal of cheering
from the Opposition and the Irish, the Government
looking very depressed.

"Jufy 18. House of Lords. Heard Lord Selborne
on the ' Crimes Bill.' It was moving to hear a man
who looks, and is reputed to be, so stern and cold,
deeply affected when he described his having broken
with Mr. Gladstone.

"July 23. Naval Review at Spithead. Shipped on
the Euphrates, a large transport lying alongside the
dockyard at Portsmouth. She was supposed to be for
the House of Lords, but there seemed to be few of that
august assembly in her crowd of passengers. We
steamed out of harbour at 1.30. The whole Solent a
mass of vessels dressed with flags. There were about
140 men-of-war moored in three lines, all except the old
Black Prince, of exceeding ugliness, like tea-trays
with toad-stools standing on them. The Queen came
out in the Victoria and Albert, and went down the
line, we following. When the procession turned to
go back, it was a magnificent sight. About half-way
down the line the royal yacht anchored, and our ship
also. Two tugs then came alongside and took us ashore.

"August i. I spent this week-end at Osterley, an
attractive house, with beautiful ceilings and cornices by
the Adams. There was a large party. The two persons
who interested me most were M. Waddington, the
French Ambassador, and a German Count, a typical
Junker. He had a closely-cropped head, small, fierce,
sunken eyes, and a prominent chin, and kept incessantly
asking questions about English styles and titles. M.
Waddington, though dressed in a thoroughly French
manner, looked a Briton to the sole of his boots,
though said not to love this county. He and the
Junker did not seem to regard each other with much
affection, and when Waddington remarked that
Bismarck had made Boulanger by alluding to him
in a speech, the Teuton looked very fierce.
' " Sept. 26. The Glen. After shooting with the
Maxwells went into Traquhair — a curious old cavern
of a house untouched for hundreds of years — a great
massive rough-dressed front with rude pepper-box
turrets. Inside it is like a quarry, and the rooms are

1886-90] WATTS— VERESTCHAGIN 253

full of old-world lumber, spinning-wheels, spinnets,
chairs, etc., dropping to pieces. On one of the walls
there is a rough attempt at decoration, camels with
leaf patterns round them.

" Oct. ii. Escrick. Had for the first time a taste of
modern partridge driving. Lord Londesborough had
asked Wenlock to take three days of his shooting in
the Wolds — a highly-organised business. Head
keeper in velveteen and red waistcoat, sixty beaters.
Each gun has a man with a dog attached to him, and
directly the drive is over the beaters go off for the
next, while the men and dogs pick up. I never saw
nearly so many birds ; very exciting work. When we
got near the town of Market Weighton, a good many
spectators came out and formed queues behind the
guns, a long tail behind the cracks, and a short one
behind the others.

" Oct. 23. Called on Watts. He and his wife at
tea. He took me into the studio and showed me some
new pictures. One of them was the Genius of
Humanity standing by a deathbed ready to lead away
the soul. The Genius had an infant in its arms. I
asked him what he meant. He answered that he
preferred people to draw their own inferences, as in
poetry, but hinted that it was a symbol of the office of
the genius, who had charge of the beginning and end
of life. Watts went on to explain that he tries, not to
teach a moral lesson, but to suggest some emotion or
thought by his pictures, as is done by music.

" Oct. 25. To the Grosvenor Gallery to see the
pictures of Verestchagin, the Russian painter. G.
told me that he had witnessed a row the other day
between the painter and an English officer.
Verestchagin has a picture there of blowing Sepoys
from guns, the guns and uniforms being modern.
He and a friend were looking at this picture, and
Verestchagin said to the friend that this form of
execution was still practised. The officer over-
hearing called out ' Never.' Verestchagin, ' A
hundred thousand pounds ? ' Officer, ' Five hundred
thousand pounds ! ' Then a row.

"Nov. 13. The Radical and Socialistic societies of
London had announced their intention of holding a
meeting in Trafalgar Square, though forbidden by the

234 RIOTS IN LONDON [XIV.

police. H. and I went down to Trafalgar Square about
4.30 to see what was going on. A troop of Life Guards
passed us going down Pall Mall. We got as far as the
corner of the square, but here the mounted police kept
making rushes, in which one was liable to get knocked
down, so we got on to a 'bus. There were two squads
of Life Guards riding round the Square different
ways, a magistrate riding with them, and a troop of
Foot Guards under the National Gallery. There was a
good deal of howling, from rather an ugly crowd. We
got off our 'bus at St. Martin's Church and tried to get
back through the Square, but could not manage it.
I never saw such a sight in England before. The
gorgeous Horse Guards moving through the surging
people rather impressive.

" Nov. 20. Special constables called out. My com-

gany stationed in north-east corner of Trafalgar
quare. At this time (about three o'clock) people
were passing through the Square, and the specials
were a good deal jeered. My company, which
increased rapidly, were a motley lot. Two or three
regular working men, an ultra masher, a useful-
looking military person, and the rest clerks. We
went though elementary evolutions, badly at first,
but quickly improving, owing to the infusion of
volunteers. The St. George's, Hanover Square, division
was next to us — a very fine-looking body of men, who
did their drill wonderfully. It was very cold and
foggy, and we occasionally ' doubled ' to keep warm.
About four the public were stopped going through the
Square, and we were told to keep our ranks and hide
our truncheons. A line of police, one deep, was
drawn cross the south side of the square. Nothing
happened, and at 5.30 we were dismissed.

"Nov. 25. Had our Balliol dinner at the Blue
Posts. E. was our guest, who is bear-leading an
Indian Prince about Europe with a motley suite of
some fifty males and females. The difficulty of
marshalling this caravan about the Continent he
described as appalling. In Paris a lot of them ran
out into the streets without their trousers. He has
spent about ^"40,000 in hotel bills in three months.

"Jan. 16, 1888. Crown Office. As an instance of the
continuity of English public life, we are now engaged

on the patent for a Bishop Suffragan, the procedure
and the very words of the document being laid down
by a Statute of Henry VIII.

" Feb. 17. Went to the House of Commons. Heard
Arthur Balfour, very amusing and good, specially his
ridicule, though perhaps his nonchalance is a shade
too studied. Mr. Gladstone followed. I have doubt-
less come too late on the scene, but I have not
yet been able to understand his great reputation.
His periods are stilted, and all in the same rhythm,
his accent distinctly disagreeable. As to manner, he
bobs about like a float with a fish on, turning right away
from the Ministers so as to address his own people."

Being now Assistant Secretary in the combined
Department of the Lord Chancellor's Office and the
Crown Office, I set to work to devise some system by
which the papers could be indexed and registered, so
as to be available for reference. Before starting a
system of our own, I went round to several of the
Government Departments and inspected their methods.
The result was, I came to the conclusion that the old
method of bundles was inconvenient, and that the
newer system of "jackets " was preferable. A jacket
is a piece of stout paper about foolscap size, having
the back strengthened with canvas, in which the
papers are fastened by a tag like the leaves in a book.
Each letter or set of papers as it arrives is fastened,
in this cover under an appropriate heading, and the
jackets are distinguished by successive numbers.

" May 27. Panshanger. Talked to Sir Allen Young.
He said he had been offered the command of an
Antarctic expedition by the Australians to explore the
whale fishery in those regions. Hecould have gone with
one ship for about £i 5,000. He went on about whales.
The price of whales had increased so much on account
of the demand for whalebone for women's dresses that
it had made up for the immense falling off in the value
of oil. A good whale was now worth about £2,000

256 WHALES [XIV.

Whales were getting very scarce, and those left were
migrating through the North-West Passage, owing to
their being so much disturbed. The Scotch fleet now
thought it a good year if they brought back twenty
One year they only got seven. A ' right ' whale, on
being struck, went straight down, and often struck his
head against the bottom, coming up stunned, when he
was killed by long lances. If he did not hit the bottom,
he would come up and go down again two or three
times. The English only attacked ' right ' whales, as
other whales, who set off along the surface, were not
worth the risk. The Americans sometimes killed
them with poisoned bombs.

"June 4. They have moored an old sailing corvette
barque-rigged as quarters for the Marine Artillery in
the river off the Temple, instead of the old Rain-
bow. I was glad to see a crowd of boys hanging
over the parapet and looking at her with delight. I
took a spell myself, to my great refreshment, though
from such a small fragment of the 'beauty and
mystery of the ships and the magic of the sea.'

"Aug. 2. The last night of the debate on the Parnell
Commission. Parnell wound up ; he was coherent and
interesting, trying to show that the admission of the
amendments which had been closured would make the
enquiry an injustice to him. He impressed me as
being more apprehensive of the investigation than I
should have thought possible.

"Sept. 29. Rodono. To church in a little upper
chamber over the school, a solitary building in Megatt
Glen. A serious, well-dressed congregation of
shepherds and their families. The clergyman like a
sergeant of the Guards, but with a good face. Though
the pew was very uncomfortable, the atmosphere of
the place was simple and invigorating. The preacher's
text was apposite, " Surely the Lord is here also."

I went this autumn to Killarney, Lord Kenmare's
house having been rented by Lord Brownlow.

The house was built by Devey, of red brick, in the
modern Elizabethan style, all the internal fittings
being luxurious and elaborate, e.g., many of the door

1886-90] KILLARNEY 257

handles were old watch-cases. It stood upon a terrace
above the lake, commanding the finest view I have
ever seen from a house in these islands.

" Oct. 3. Killarney. A strange, one-sided place,
Paradise in front of the house, behind, a dismal land.
Peace on the surface, below the Irish question. I am
never happy in Ireland, its awful tnstesse weighs
down my melancholy soul.

"Went out stalking with Alfred Lyttelton on the
Muckross ground. One of the stalkers was a hard-
headed Scotsman, but it is curious to see how Ireland
has affected his language and character, though he
has little admiration for the natives. I asked him ' if
he thought Home Rule would do any good,' and he
answered, 'The only rule that would do any good
would be to shoot every third man of them.' The
gillies were curious specimens in black bowler hats
and black coats, becoming greenish with exposure to
the weather. They had handsome, fine-cut laces of a
foreign type, bearing out the story that there is a good
deal of Spanish blood in these parts. I thought how
amazed a Scots stalker would have been to see gillies
in black hats and coats. However, it did not really
matter, as there was no stalking here. We plunged
into a jungle, like a glorified Clapham Common,
covered with huge gorse bushes, hollies, and high
heather, out of which the gillies, in about two hours'
time, poked two large stags, which Alfred slew. For
the rest of the day we wandered about unsuccessfully,
till in the evening we came down to the water, and
were rowed to an ornamental cottage at the head of an
arm of the lake, where we found a comfortably-
furnished drawing-room, two blazing fires, and tea.
I believe there are many of these lodges scattered
about the estate.

" There is a curious place in the garden here, a stone
under an oak with two circular holes worn in its sur-
face, in which stands a little dirty water. Popular
belief asserts this liquid to be good for the eyes, and
persons come from all parts to fill bottles with it.
Each votary ties a rag to the boughs of the oak, and
the leaves are killed and the branches covered with a
motley crop of pieces of flannel and calico. It has a

L.L. s

258 F. MAITLAND [XIV.

thoroughly fetish appearance, and is strange to see in
Great Britain, A.D. 1888.

" Oct. 24. The first day of term. As Assistant
Secretary, I attended the Lord Chancellor through the
functions of the day clad in Iev6e dress, much
embarrassed by my sword. The Lord Chancellor
received the Lord Mayor. A rather picturesque
mediaeval scene. The Lord Mayor and aldermen in
furred and violet robes, with their officers, attendants,
and mace-bearers, stand in a semi-circle, in the centre
of which is the Lord Chancellor in the black and gold
robes. The Municipals were not nearly as massive
or Tintoretto-like as you see in the north. The
Recorder makes a speech giving a short life of the
Mayor-elect, and ' states his pretensions.' The
Recorder, in introducing the Lord Mayor, stated that
he was descended from Whitbread. The Lord Chan-
cellor made rather a good little speech, pointing out
that the forms of heroism changed, but not the spirit"

In November I went to Cambridge to the dinner of the
" Ambarum " Club, which has. been mentioned before
in this record, being the guest of the late Frederick
Maitland, Professor of Law, who had a house in
Downing College. This was the first of a series of
visits which went on till his death in 1906. Few men
whom I have known were more likeable than Maitland.
or better company. He had a humour and lightness
of touch which was curious in a man devoted to a
study of such serious, not to say musty, character as
Black Letter law and archaic customs and • tech-
nicalities. An ideal host, he made my visits to the
North Lodge " green islands in Life's sea" to which I
shall always look back with gratitude.

" Dec. 6. A party at the Speaker's where Colonel G.,
a partner of Edison's, gave an exhibition of the phono-
graph. He produced various hollow waxen cylinders,
one of which contained (awful thought) 10,000 bottled
tunes played by a Yankee band. The operator then

i886-9oj SIR JOHN GORST 259

spoke and sang various words down a tube, which
were finally reproduced in a squeaky voice, like that
of a ventriloquist at a school feast. After a few highly
flattering remarks from the Colonel, the Speaker made
a capital little speech down the pipe, which he finished
by calling out ' Order ! Order ! ' This was received
with applause. The funnel was then adjusted, and
the speech all came out again, with a curious little
bleat at the end, and some odd woodpecker taps
which represented the applause and the clapping of
hands.

"Dec. 6. Went into the House of Commons. Lord
Charles Beresford speaking like a ' Captain of the
boats ' in ' Pop.'

" Lunched in the Commons dining-room. Sat next to
George O.Trevelyan. He said that he had been reading
the Letters of Cicero, and Middlemen's ' Life,' about
which he discoursed in an interesting way. He told
me that it was curious how, after reading for a bit, he
got to enter into the spirit and thoughts of the writer,
and quite understood parts which the commentators
left obscure. He praised much some of the Letters of
Caesar, which he said were masterpieces of brief
expression and lofty thought, evidently written off on
the moment.

"Dec. 21. Went into the Commons. Sir John Gorst
in the Chair in Committee on the Appropriation Bill
Tanner and Caldwell kept trying to speak. Gorst
shut them both up by ruling that nothing could be
discussed which involved amounts already settled by
the House, but only whether it was lawful to appro-
priate them. He did it with much ability and some
roughness. Tanner got angry and, shaking his fist
towards Arthur Balfour's place (Balfour was just enter-
ing the House, behind the Chair), called him a coward
and a liar. Courtney, who had now taken the chair,
asked the doctor to withdraw, but he would not. The
Speaker was sent for, and Mr. Goschen moved that the
doctor should be suspended. This is the worst row I
have seen in the House.

"Jan. 14, 1889. Went down to Stanway, where I
found a large party. Our host is standing for the
County Council, and some of us went to one of his
meetings. The room was crammed, parsons, doctors,

s 2

260 FOOD-FISHES [XIV.

farmers and their wives in the front row, rustics
behind. The speech excellent, but monotonous in
delivery. I watched the rustics, and could not trace
the faintest reflection of assent or dissent in their faces,
nor did any of them utter a sound.

"Feb. i. British Institution. Macintosh, the professor,
whom we had employed on the Trawling Commission,
lectured on the ' Life of a Marine Food-Fish.' Among
other things he drew attention to the way the young
fish change from spottiness to a uniform colour as they
grow older. This spottiness occurs in many young
animals, and is said to be a reversion to the old types,
which were all spotted.

" The turbot, when young, swims in the water, is
coloured, and has an eye on both sides. When he
gets older he lies on one side and on the bottom, his
lower side becomes colourless, and its eye goes over
the bridge of the nose to the top side. In some fishes,
who play the same game, the eye goes through them,
and there is one fish so transparent that his eyes can
look through his body and out on the other side.

11 Feb. 26. House of Commons. Colonel Saunderson
speaking — as amusing as usual, but a little extravagant.
He chaffed Mr. Gladstone about the evictions at
Hawarden, till that statesman was fain to immerse
himself in a blue book. There are now perpetual
shouts of ' Pigott ' from the Opposition, whatever
topic is being discussed.

"March i. House of Commons. Mr. Gladstone
spoke on the amendment to the address upon Irish
Administration. It was far the best speech I have
heard him make, but more from the style, passion,
and delivery, than from the argument. He looked
young and quite smart. It was comic to see his fury
with Mr. Chamberlain, before whom he danced, shaking
his hands at him, Chamberlain scanning his opponent
through his eyeglass with an unmoved, perky visage.
He made out that the Liberal Unionists were such
devils, that I, a mere Tory, felt quite an angel.

" Mr. Goschen followed — commonplace and snuffy-
voiced at first, a great contrast to the orator who had
just sat down. But as he warmed to his work his
shots began to tell, and the glamour of the last speech
dying out, he was very effective."

1886-90] PLYMOUTH 261

This spring I had a bad attack of influenza, which
left asthma behind it, and early in March I had to
leave my work and go down to the seaside. My
cousins, the Athol Liddells, took me in at the Winter
Villa, Stonehouse, as suitable a place for an invalid as
can well be imagined.

The house was situated on the shore of Plymouth
Sound, looking south towards Drake's Island, while
just behind it, to the north and north-east, a steep wall
of limestone rock formed a complete shelter from the
wind. The main channel from the Sound to the
Hamoaze ran close to the shore, so that great ships
passed right under the windows. While staying at
the villa I went several times to Mount Edgcumbe, a
place of such special beauties that I think it merits a few
lines of description taken from a letter of the period.

" One of the features of the place is the ' Terrace,' a
grass drive through high walls of ilex, laurel, and
rhododendron, along the face of a cliff that looks
south. It is a sort of ' Island of Avilion.' There are
tall stone pines overhead in whose plumes the wind
rustles, and whose trunks lean seawards over the
road, the boughs twisting overhead into a rustic roof.
Trees, too, of kinds that are rare in these islands, grow
in this sheltered place, mimosa, eucalyptus, cork, palm,
and even olives, though small ones.

"A long reef runs from Drake's Island to Mount
Edgcumbe, over which ships can only pass at cer-
tain states of the tide. In the days of sailing ships
no Government vessel was allowed to go over this
ridge on any pretence whatever. Lord Cochrane,
hearing of a Spanish privateer in the offing, took his
frigate out over it under the eyes of the Port Admiral,
thereby saving the two extra miles round Drake's
Island. The dash was successful ; he captured the
Spaniard, and came back with two great silver candle-
sticks at his masthead. If he had stuck on the ridge
he would have been cashiered ; as it was, he was tried
by court martial and acquitted.

262 COTELE [XIV.

"March 29. We shipped in a steam launch and
steamed to Cotele up the Hamoaze. Every kind of
warship is to be found there, not modern ships only,
but ' out-of-dates ' in every stage of decay, trie long
rust stains streaming down their sides like grimy tears
at their own sad fate. Some, mostly early ' ironclads,'
had been failures from birth ; others, wooden ships,
had been ' cracks ' in their time, and still preserved a
beauty and dignity that was wanting to the failures ;
and last, but not least, were some old black hulks,
smart craft in the French war, now sunk to coal
depots. Cotele, our goal, was an old house which has
come down in the Edgcumbe family, from father to
son, since the time of Henry VII., and having been
little lived in and well cared for, is still in much the
same state as it was four hundred years ago. Old
houses which retain some of their principal furniture
are common enough. But it is not common to find a
dwelling where many of the minor pieces of furniture
are still available, and your bedroom is much as it was
in the days of your ancestors, except, perhaps, for a
tin bath lurking under the bed. Among the large
collection of antique clocks, mirrors, snuffers, dishes,
spoons, etc., I was chiefly impressed by one of the
noblest of bottles, a great jar of dark glass mounted in
silver called a ' tappit-hen,' which held a dozen of claret.

"May 5. Lunch with my uncle, George Fox. He
told me the history of my great-uncle, old Sackville
Fox, a curious story, like a bit of Thackeray.

" Sackville began life in the ' Blues,' and soon got
through a large younger son's fortune which had been
left him, and borrowed of everyone without thinking
of repayment. He could hardly write, and knew
nothing except the Bible, which he had at his fingers'
ends, for the following reason. His favourite sister
fell in love with a Roman Catholic, and ' Sack,' in
order to argue her out of this alliance, applied himself to
the Bible with extraordinary assiduity. When he was
just about broke he ran away with Lady Charlotte
Osborne to Gretna Green. Her father, the Duke of
Leeds, was at first furious, but afterwards took a great
liking to ' Sack,' and having quarrelled with his eldest
son's wife, left everything he could to his son-in-law,
but without saying anything about it. Lady C. died,

1886-90] SACKVILLE FOX 263

but on the Duke's death, to the astonishment of every-
one, 'Sack ' came into ,£15,000 per annum, two estates
in Yorkshire, and a house in St. James' Square. ' Sack '
just walked into the London house, kept on all the
servants, but he hardly knew his way about it. He
was fearfully fleeced by his servants and everyone
else, and as the estates were strictly tied up, in a few
years he was in the Insolvent Court. There he lingered,
and none of the lawyers could do anything for him.
One day a Mr. Tennant, a business man in Leeds,
asked to be allowed to try his hand. Permission was
given him, and he beat down all the creditors by offers
of ready money, and got ' Sack ' out of the Court.
Tennant afterwards found out that the vast domain of .
' Applecross' had been sold by the late Duke of Leeds],
illegally, as it was settled to follow the title oft
1 Conyers.' Accordingly they got the estate back, and •
splitting it into three portions, sold it at a large profit.
However, old ' Sack ' soon got into ' short street ' again,
and lived in a succession of borrowings and com-
poundings with creditors. He had little sense
of monetary obligation, and led a wretched hand-
to-mouth life. Sometimes he would be posted at
the club, and a friend would pay his subscription.
Old 'Sack' would go up to the board, and seeing his
name struck off from the list of defaulters, would say,
' Ah, ah, someone paid my subscription.' I remember
him at the end of his life, a fine, tall, wild-looking, old
gentleman, always quoting from the Prophets and
denouncing the Roman Catholics.

"July 4. I was shown some glass plates covered with
lycopodium dust in beautiful crystalline patterns like
frost on windows, which had arranged themselves
under the action of harmonious sounds from musical
instruments, or the voice of a woman singing."

At this time I had the novel experience of being a
witness in an action. A half-crazed Irish doctor had
for years persecuted a County Court Judge with libel-
lous letters. He had also been in the habit of send-
ing similar communications to the Lord Chancellor
addressed in a fantastic and sometimes humorous

264 MONKSHATCH [XIV.

fashion. One of these bore the following inscription
in large letters : " To the Lord Chancellor, that highly-
paid comedian at £10,000 a year." The trial came on
at the Durham summer Assizes, and I was called to
prove that one of the libellous envelopes had gone
through the Lord Chancellor's office. The doctor
cross-examined me. He began by mistaking me for
my father, ajid then put several questions to me
founded on mistakes of fact. And so ended my sole
experience as a witness. I felt quite a touch of
affection for the old Courts and robing-room at Durham,
which I used to hate so, and enjoyed seeing all my old
friends at the Bar.

"July 20. To Monkshatch. This was the first of
my visits to this charming and in some ways unique
place. The house,half-English farm, half-Italian villa,
was built by my friend Andrew Hichens upon a terrace
two-thirds of the way up the Hog's Back between
Guildford and Farnham. On the north side of the
plateau on which the house stood was a great cliff of
chalk, originally a quarry, but now crumbled by the
weather into irregular blocks and facets, something
like a Yorkshire scaur, on the less steep parts of
which grew creepers and bushes in picturesque
confusion. Along the top of the excavation was a
thick fir wood. This formation made a complete
shelter from the north and east, while in front of the
house a broad, shaven lawn looked south over the
woods and hills of the rich Surrey country. There
was another great chalk pit in the grounds, the floor
of which had been turfed and planted with shrubs,
through which ran grass paths, winding about under
the shelter of the great rough-hewn walls, which were
overgrown with flowers and creepers.

"July 25. House of Commons. Debate on Royal
Grants. Mr. Labouchere made out a strong case
apart from the arrangement entered into at the begin-
ning of the reign, which ought not to be altered. But
I was surprised at how little he was cheered, and

1886-90] MR CHAMBERLAIN ON GHOSTS 265

how little feeling there seemed to be on the question.

Even S , who was in real demagogue form, did not

object to the Monarchy, and said that he liked H. M.
Mr. Gladstone was pretty good, very old-fashioned.
It was strange to hear the Conservatives cheering
him vehemently, while his own side were silent, or
nearly so.

"July 27. Left for Wilton. Travelled with Judge
Holmes of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He
seemed to think that the Prankish Salic law had a far
greater influence on our law than had generally been
recognised, and that even ecclesiastical law was
largely tinctured with it.

" Found a large party at Wilton : Mr. Joseph
Chamberlain, Miss Rhoda Broughton, Julian Story
and others."

In the morning I walked with Mr. Chamberlain. We
talked about ghosts. He said that he had at one time
been interested in the subject, and had got hold of a
case where the ghost had been seen by more than
one person at the same time. At some house in
Warwickshire, I think he said, he had been told that
four persons were sitting in an old hall and saw the
figure of a monk walk across the far end of the room
and disappear. The next night they fixed a rope
across the track of the phantom, but it passed through
the body without movement. Mr. Chamberlain had
got the names and addresses of all the four people, and
proposed to examine them closely and compare their
accounts. But of course something happened to prevent
him at the time, and he never followed up the matter.

Among other topics, he talked about Ireland, saying
that things would never be right there as long as the
natives blamed the Government for every bad harvest.
They ought to be allowed to do their own local jobbery
as long as we kept tight hold of the executive.

In the afternoon there was a good deal of talk about

266 JUDGE HOLMES [XIV.

11 Life" as we sat under the trees, mainly between Judge
Holmes and Miss Broughton. The Judge very fluent,
his flow of talk is almost too even, like a stream from a
reservoir rather than a natural fount. He defended a
sort of all-that-is-is-right philosophy ; denied that there
could be such a thing as real altruism for a man ; what
came in men to the same thing was a love of work.
Altogether I did not think that either were speaking
from their hearts but rather for debate's sake.

In the smoking-room Judge Holmes and Mr. Chamber-
lain had a political argument. Mr. Chamberlain main-
tained that the reason why all the best men in America
went into railways was that you could do so little in
politics in the way of bringing in measures of utility,
owing to the size of the country, the constant changing
of the Legislature, and the inelastic character of the
Constitution ; whereas in England, if you could get a
thing before the constituencies, in a couple of years
you had nothing to do but pass it in the Commons, as
the Lords would never throw out more than once a
Bill which the whole country wanted. Holmes said
that the best men in England went into politics because
they were most needed there, and the sphere was the
widest ; but in America, a new country isolated from
others, the opening up of internal communication was
the most important matter, so that all their best men
went into railways.

" August 5 . Went over to Knole, a wonderful old
house with beautifully carved rooms and ceilings,
cavernous fireplaces in great marble chimney-pieces,
where the logs are piled on shining silver dogs.
There was a bedroom where James I. slept, which
has been untouched since. On the table silver-handled
brushes, much like ours, though rather long in the
bristle, and all sorts of silver boxes and bottles,

1886-90] TOUR IN THE TYROL 267

down to an eye-bath for his weak eyes. I stayed in
the house once, and had a strange room, tapestry-
clothed, with a little trough under the window to
catch the rain that came in at the ill-fitting casement ;
in the morning it was piled with snow.

"August 29. The Technical Instruction Bill, an
important measure, rammed through the Lords in five
minutes by suspension of the ' Standing Orders.'
Lord Salisbury made a lame defence, saying it was a
'quasi-money Bill,' Lords Morley and Sandhurst
protesting. This is a very dangerous principle, and
might be used against the advocates some day with
great effect. This is no doubt the weak point of the
House of Lords, that it does this sort of thing when the
Conservatives are in, but not when there is a Liberal
Government at the helm."

At the end of August I left to stay at a place called
Solden in Tyrol, stopping en route at Wilrtzburg,
Munich and Innspruck. After about three weeks at
Solden I paid my first visit to the Dolomites, spending
a few days at Cortina, and was back in England early
in October. I kept a full log of my voyage, but shall
not do more than put down a few extracts which may
be of interest.

"August 31. Wiirtzburg. Passed a great brick
church with a wall like a precipice. Between the
buttresses were small shops, as in the Court of the
Gentiles in the Temple. We only hear there of
pigeon-shops and money-changers, which were not so
incongruous to a sacred building as haberdashers and
bootmakers, with flannel shirts and slippers swinging
strangely between the old bricks.

" The palace gardens are the beau ideal of a sleepy
German paradise. All the paths meet at the fountain,
which sends a lazy jet into the sunlight from a mass
of stone covered with a rich velvet moss. When the
water falls on the moss it is inaudible, but now and
then a puff of air jerks it into the basin, where it
makes a gentle patter, dying gradually away. Large
gold fish swim rouncl the basin, and sparrows

268 A DOUBLE [XIV.

occasionally fly into the spray to take a shower bath.
All round the fruit of the limes flutters down in the
still air, with a just audible fall, when the fountain is
in one of its silent moods. Only the guardian was
not happy. He was of ferocious mien, with a huge
sword, and a small boy tried to take one of the gold-
fishes in his hand. The guardian scowled horribly,
the boy howled, and he and his mother and little
sister bundled out of the garden full speed, the mother
slapping the culprit as she went.

"Sept. 3. In Innsbruck you never get the mountains
out ofyour eye or heart. You see them towering at
the end of all the streets, or out ofyour window when
you wake in the morning. I suppose it is their
going straight up from the plain that makes them so
grand. A town wall whose ramparts are crags seamed
with snow, whose lower bastions are clothed with
pine woods, blue and dim in the shadows, seeming so
near and yet so mysterious, as if seen through clear
water.

"Jan. 5, 1890. The modern scientific spirit is

exemplified in F 's little boy, who was insistent to

know whether the Infant Christ had been vaccinated.

"Jan. 17. To-night an Irishman in Belgrave
Square took off his hat to me most deferentially, and
said, ' You'll come through with it all right, Mr. Par-
nell, sorr.' (alluding apparently to the O'Shea case).
I have been addressed once before by the same
title, and last Easter, when I had been taking the air
on the terrace of the Palace at Westminster during
the recess, I noticed that one or two papers had a
paragraph about Mr. Parnell's solitary pacings on the
terrace.

There was really little resemblance between us,
except that Mr. Parnell was thin, getting bald, and
had the same coloured hair and beard.

"Feb. 13. A said that he had been staying at

Hawarden with Mr. Gladstone, who was full of
boundless energy, but so feverish that it gave him
the impression that it could not last. While walking
in the park he stopped suddenly, and looking into

1886-90] THE OXFORD HOUSE 269

A 's face said, ' Tell me why I have lost the con-
fidence of the English people.' A said 'that he

had lost the confidence of his own class because they
thought that he wanted to destroy the Empire.'
' Then they must think me a madman,' said Gladstone,
and a moment after added fiercely, ' Why don't they
send two strong men from Bedlam to take me
there ? '

"Feb. 21. Met T , who talked about his life in

the East End. He works chiefly at superintending
men and boys' clubs, giving lectures and teaching. He
thinks that they make little way in making converts,
as most of the men are unbelievers or blatant atheists,
though some of them have great horror of drink and,
to a lesser extent, of immorality. What T. and his
fellow-workers try to inculcate is a kind of manly
Christianity, but find great difficulty in introducing
religion at all. The few who profess religion are not
always the best, but often narrow-minded Evangelicals
or Dissenters. The great stumbling-block is the
profound distrust which all the men have not only for

T and his friends, but for each other. The fierce

competition which prevails makes them think that
anything is right which helps them in the strife against
their neighbour. The general opinion among them is
that the members of the Oxford House are highly

paid, and that it is a Tory political organisation. T

did not know of one instance of a real convert, but
says that they try to make the lives of those among
whom they work a little more civilised and comfortable.
The clubs existing among the people themselves are
generally brought together upon a political basis, and
often harbour drink and vice. The clergy have a
difficult position, as they are despised, and can do but
little.

" March 19. Sat next a young lady at dinner who
told me that she was president of the ' Pessimist
Society.' The members edited a magazine called
the ' Mausoleum.'. They have no rules, but their
object is to ' abuse life.'

" March 28. Dined with the Cobhams, Mr. Gladstone
there. He looks about sixty-five. The face and body
are full. There is no sign of shrinking except some-
thing in the hands. The features are mobile, his

270 MR. GLADSTONE [XIV.

eyes bright, and there is a note of strength about him
that is unusual, and which comes out in his voice —
which is like a deep-striking clock. He uses his hands
a good deal, which are smallish and very flexible,
looking more artistic than powerful. He is not a
large-boned man. I was one off him at dinner, so
could only hear occasionally what he said. The first
remark which I caught was that jealousy was founded
on the idea of a right which was infringed by the
person of whom you were jealous ; envy was simply
the dislike of good happening to another. This was
the meanest of vices, and Mr. Gladstone regretted to
say that he had sometimes been subject to it, but
never to jealousy. A child, he said, was a smaller
vessel than an adult, and a fuller one, that a child
therefore more easily overflowed, was more eager and
intense."

"When the ladies went upstairs I was next the great
man. He began to talk of Lowell's craze for making
out that all families were of Jewish origin. I told him
that Lowell derived his own name, ' Russell, ' from
1 rosso, ' ' red,' the Spanish name for a fox or a Jew ; and
he asked how ' Reynolds ' could be a Jewish name ?
We told him from ' Reynard ' in the same way. He
said that surnames ending in ' s ' and ' son ' were not
necessarily Jewish, and then got on to patronymics,
remarking that the Welsh patronymics told you nothing
but the name of the father, not the name of the clan,
like the Scotch patronymics did. After mentioning
the Mackenzies of Kintail, he continued that it was
curious that so few of the great Scots families had
lost their territory, only, so far as he could remember,
the ' Seaforths.'

" From Mackenzie having been a hatter we got to
the Aberdonians and their big heads, and thence to
wigs. Mr. Gladstone remembered when all the
Bishops wore wigs. Blomfield, who had a fine head,
but a very thin skull, and so felt the discomfort of
a wig acutely, was the first to leave them off. The
present Bishops were really a much better-looking lot
of men, but the earlier Bishops would beat them hollow
in appearance, owing to the look of dignity and benevo-
lence imparted by the wigs, and for this reason he
should be sorry to see the Judges' wigs abolished.

i886-9oj MR. GLADSTONE 271

" Going out from dinner the great man went at Robert
Meade (the Assistant Secretary in the Colonial Office)
with much ardour as to a certain tribe in Africa who
used the bow merely as a musical instrument, being
ignorant of its use as a weapon. He was much excited
about this, and maintained that the bow was un-
doubtedly the origin of the violin. I was struck with
the keenness he showed in this matter. He said that
he had been to the Foreign Office (the tribe being
under German protection), and got Sir Philip Currie
to make enquiries. When he got upstairs he sat
next to Lady on a small chair, and kept on talk-
ing about the bow. He considered the violin a more
wonderful creation of man than the steam-engine.
The plough was also a marvellous invention ; it was
known before any ancient writings which we have.
He thought that it must have been borrowed from the
pig ploughing up the ground with his snout. Getting
on to steam, he pointed out how curious it was that
men should for so long have had daily dealings with
the kettle without finding out the power in it by some
accident such as the spout getting choked. I men-
tioned Leonardo's steam cannon — Mr. Gladstone said
that Prince Rupert knew the power of steam, and a
Frenchman (whose name he had forgotten) was about
the same time actually shut up in a madhouse for
experiments in the same direction. He then repeated
a bon mot of Disraeli's about steam, which I could not
catch, but which set him to talk about his great rival.
Disraeli was the greatest master of Parliamentary
ridicule he ever knew ; the speeches against Peel were
his most remarkable effort. Peel only tried once
to answer him, and failed utterly, fighting him with
reason, which was of no avail against sarcasm and
abuse. Still, the speeches did not do much lasting
harm. They made Dizzy, but did not destroy Peel.
When Peel proposed the Maynooth grant, which
stirred up a storm of 'no-popery' in the country,
Dizzy said, ' The Right Hon. Baronet has set the
country on fire, and what for : why, in order that the
students of Maynooth may sleep two instead of three
in a bed.' Dizzy hated nobody, and so far he was a
good enemy to have, but as he grew older he was
more indifferent to truth. Whether he had any belief

272 MR. GLADSTONE [XIV.

Mr. Gladstone did not know, but he thought Disraeli
did not really care much about any principle in politics.
His patience was wonderful, and he never lost his
temper. He could wait and let the fruit just drop into
his mouth, but he never pulled it. Though he was
in Office four times he never turned a Government
out himself, but let other people do so for him.
Disraeli was once on a commission with Sir Joseph
Paxton. It was, said Mr. Gladstone, before there
were any of these ' new-fangled ' roads about the
parks. Many plans for new roads marked A. B. C. D.
were before the Committee. Paxton called out, ' I
want to see plan He [E].' ' That must be the mail
road,' said Dizzy.

" Dean Stanley, whose love of liberty made him a
Liberal, became a Jingo on the Turkish question, and
was asked to dine in Arlington Street, where he met
Disraeli. The Dean spoke with great eloquence of the
time when all creeds and formulae would be abandoned,
when every man would have his own faith in his
heart, and be his own priest. When he ceased there
was a silence, which was broken by Disraeli saying,
' That is all very well, but no dogma, no Dean.'

" No one could write a really good life of Disraeli ;
there was so much that no one knew who had not been
in close intercourse with him, and without which his
character, as drawn merely from his acts and words,
would be imperfect. Lord Derby would be the best
person, as he had been closer to Disraeli than anyone
now living. Mr. Gladstone never knew Disraeli well
personally. The farthest they ever got was Disraeli's
taking him from the House in his brougham, and
asking him to Hughenden, but he never went.
Disraeli was a great favourite of the Queen, as were
Melbourne, Peel and Aberdeen. The last was most
deservedly loved by her. Melbourne was her greatest
favourite. He managed her admirably. Before she
knew Peel she was afraid of him, owing to the bed-
chamber row.

" Mr. Gladstone will never forget his going down to
Claremont to take the oaths of office when Melbourne
went out in 1841. The Queen's face was red and
swollen with crying. When in Office himself he
wrote to the Queen every day during the Session.

1886-po] MR. GLADSTONE— WATTS 273

He never put off writing till next morning, though the
Queen once asked him if he would like to send a short
note at night, and a fuller account next day. The
letter was copied by the Private Secretary, and sent
down by an early train. He had got about 2,000
letters from the Queen. When he was Prime Minister,
he had shortened Her Majesty's labours in the
following way. When any appointment was put
before her, she used to have to write a note to the
Minister signifying her pleasure. He proposed to
have a copy sent down with the Minister's letter, on
which the Queen should merely write 'Approved,
V. R.' When he was Minister again he forgot that
he had devised this improvement, and the Queen re-
minded him.

"At ten minutes to eleven Mrs. Gladstone came up
to him and said it was bedtime. She stood by him and
stroked his hair. It was touching to see the old
couple. Mr. Gladstone said ' Hours must be kept,'
shook hands all round and left. I must confess that I
felt his charm strongly.

"May i. To the Commons. Arthur Balfour replying
on the Irish Land Bill. He was very good, and made
one of the most complete Parliamentary scores I ever
heard. An Irish member had spoken with much
vigour against the Bill and its principles. Balfour
showed that he was at that moment arranging the sale
of his property under the Ashbourne Act.

"June 21. Monkshatch. Some talk with old
Mr. Watts. He said that he could not imagine
persons being fond of any art without wanting to
create in it themselves. He could never read poetry
without its giving him a want to put his ideas in verse;
which he could not do, as he had no gift of language.
He said he felt very strongly that he had lived before.

"June 27. Music at the Brownlows. A new man
called Paderewski, pallid, with a vast shock of red hair.
All the fine ladies in London, the Princess of Wales at
their head, sitting in rapt attention. Could not get
anywhere near. The Prince of Wales blocked one
door, and half the town was struggling in the other.

"August AT Dined with R., who is just back from
Norway. He told me that the German Emperor had
landed at their place, and tried to fish, but his arm

L.L. T

274 WILHELM II. S'AMUSS [XIV.

prevented his handling a big salmon rod. So they
waited till one of them hooked a fine fish, when it was
given to H.I.M. to play, but the keeper unfortunately
was so nervous that he broke the line in trying to gaff
him. The next day they got a smaller rod and put on
a worm, when the Emperor, to his delight, caught a
grilse and a trout. The two carcases were placed on
a cabbage-leaf and borne back before His Majesty to
the yacht by a huge Leib-Jager in a gorgeous uniform.
R. said that H.I.M. was most attractive, and talked
warmly about England and his grandmother. He was
dressed in knickerbockers, and looked quite British.

" August 16. My sister Gertrude married to Leonard
Sartons. She and I have been under the same roof
for thirty-eight years.

"Sept. 6. Rodono. A great event to-day. I was
walking along the face of the hill between two drives,
when the servants who were far behind, put up two

blackcock. They flew first over M , who missed,

amid derisive shouts. I dropped down ; they came
beautifully over me, and I got them both. Alfred
Lyttelton, who was behind, told me that my servant
was called up by the others, who gave him a round of
cheers, he bowing his acknowledgments."

On September i2th I left the valley of the Yarrow
for Dereen, a place in the south-west of Ireland,
which was rented by my friends the Carmarthens.

"Sept. 13. At Headford found a decayed but roomy
landau, looking as if it would fall to bits at any
moment, with two rude but excellent steeds. My
coachman was a great character, like a man in one of
Lever's books, very talkative. He made use of words
like 'watershed' and 'ratio,' and talked of Froude's
'Oceana' having been a failure. He did not love
Froude, who, he said, had called him a 'Jarvey' in
some article, an insult for which he would have
demanded satisfaction had not the priest dissuaded
him. After 'tea' at Kenmare he went off at a
gallop."

Dereen is a lovely place close to the sea on an inlet
of the Atlantic. The gardens are well kept up and are

1886-90] DEREEN 275

full of tropical plants, skirting the rocky shore and
little coves fringed with golden sand.

In the course of my rambles I noted the following
characteristics of the region.

Irish gates. The best sort of gate, indeed the only
sort of gate which can be strictly so called, generally
stands alone, without any fence on either hand, so that
if you go for a yard to the right or left you can
circumvent it.

As the walls strengthen, the gates weaken, so that
in an impregnable fence the gate usually consists of
an open space with a stick across it.

The ordinary form of gate is an old bough, or some-
times a barrel in a gap.

The agent here, who is a knowing man, has devised
a method by which he hopes to raise the standard of
comfort. He has completely surrounded the cottage
gardens by stout, low wa^ls of concrete, in which are
openings which will admit a man, but not a pig, thus
keeping that animal out of the house, where he would
otherwise dwell. This piece of civilisation was very
unpopular at first, but the natives now keep hens in
their bedrooms, which to some extent supplies the
place of the pig in the family, and has created a new
and thriving industry. The pig also seems contented,
as he finds a snug couch on the sunny side of the low
wall.

" Oct. 2. Gosford. We are living in the agent's
house, as the new house is not yet finished. Lord W.
was away, so I had to do host, which entailed no less
a responsibility than entertaining Jowett and Arthur
Balfour. They seemed a little shy of each other when
we were left alone after dinner, but talked about
Macaulay and Burke, to my edification.

" Nov. 20. As an instance of the odd jobs a Lord

T 2

276 PARNELL'S LUNCHEON [XIV.

Chancellor has to do, Lord Halsbury held an enquiry
to-day as to whether the services of a chapel connected
with an old hospital at Bath ought to be discontinued,
the hospital having been moved out into the country,
three miles from the chapel. The trustees of the
institution wished to do away with the services and
the Chaplain, who appealed to the Lord Chancellor,
his consent being necessary. The Lord Chancellor
decided in favour of the Chaplain."

H told me that an Irish friend of his, who was

fond of the good things of this life, had once stayed at
Avondale with Parnell, and was fed ascetically. One
day Parnell proposed an expedition, and with a view
to lunch he cut two huge slices from a brown loaf,

which he buttered, and gave one to his guest. H

had asked the same man the secret of Parnell's influ-
ence. He answered that he could hardly tell, but
that Parnell froze you.

H went on to talk of Schopenhauer, who, he

said, was the source of the views put forward now
by Tolstoi, which had great affinity to those of
Christianity, specially those of the Christian mystics
of the last century — viz., the perfection of the individual
soul, the negation of desire in the contemplative life,
and the wish for the end of the world.

Bismarckism was a modern form of Hegelism.
Hegel thought the individual was always such a fool
that private judgment was valueless. Society should
be ruled by the despot, not as an individual, but as the
representative of Society.

CHAPTER XV
1891 — 1892

The Ecclesiastical Secretaryship — The German Emperor — Torloisk
— Staflfa — Society — Mr. Gladstone again — G. Curzon — Mr.
Sargent — Lord Salisbury — The General Election — Gainsford
Bruce, J.

"Jan. 28, 1891. Curious case reported from Irish
papers. Action against a Railway Company for
damage inflicted by a railway accident on an unborn
babe, who afterwards turned out a cripple. The
Company had paid up £800. The Court held that the
defendants made no contract to carry a being not in
esse.

"Feb. 10. Saw an electric omnibus to-day. It went
in rather a wobbly fashion, steered by a man in front
with a wheel."

Early in this year my eldest sister, Mrs. F. Lascelles,
had developed symptoms of cancer. She came to
London and was, by the kindness of the George
Hamiltons, taken in at the Admiralty, where she
underwent an operation. It was successful, and she
rallied for a time, but died on March i^th. I shall
say no more about this sad time except that none of
her family will ever forget the love and care with
which she was tended by her hosts.

On March i8th I began my duties as Ecclesiastical
Secretary to the London Chancellor, in addition to
my other work. It was a one-man-job, and as such
I naturally got to take a great interest in it. The Lord
Chancellor is the patron of all the Crown livings in
England and Wales which are rated at below £20

278 ECCLESIASTICAL SECRETARYSHIP [XV.

per annum in the " King's Books " — a survey made in
the time of Henry VIII. This limit was formerly
20 marks, but was afterwards extended, about the
time of the Reformation, to £20.

The Lord Chancellor has also to present to all
vacant livings in the gift of lunatics, to all livings
rated as above which fall in during the vacancy of
a see, or because the Crown has promoted the incum-
bent, and lastly to all benefices which lapse to the
Crown from not having been filled up. This results
in a great mass of patronage, the average vacancies
from all these classes amounting to about one a week.
Many of them are, from the smallness of the stipend,
the lack of work, or the remoteness of their situation,
difficult to fill, at any rate with fairly good pastors.

There is something English or illogical about this
Ecclesiastical patronage of the Lord Chancellor, and
one cannot doubt that if the head of the law in France
were suddenly entrusted with a large slice of the
Ecclesiastical patronage of the country, that such a
step would create much astonishment and criticism.
However the thing " has growed," and there it is.

The Private Secretary's duties were to deal with the
correspondence relating to this patronage, and with
the departmental work, which consisted in advising on
sales, leases, exchanges, improvements, or loans ; in
investigations of the desirability of the union or
division of parishes, or of sales and exchanges of
advowsons. The letters varied in number from five
to fifty per diem. There was also much interviewing
of applicants and their backers, specially M.P.'s.
Interviewing the applicants was, perhaps, the most
disagreeable part of the work. Some of them had
ill-founded pretensions, others told distressing stories

1891-92] ECCLESIASTICAL SECRETARYSHIP 279

of poverty and ill-health, in regard to which scant com-
fort could be given. Members of Parliament, too, were
occasionally very insistent, owing to the prevailing
idea that these benefices could only be obtained upon
their recommendation. This popular delusion has bad
results, as it makes it almost necessary for an M.P. to
support applicants of whom he knows little or nothing,
except that they have been brought to his notice by
some party-worker. If after the support of the M.P.
the applicant fails to obtain preferment, he is apt to
put down his failure to the "jobbery" of the Lord
Chancellor.

A natural corollary of this idea is that the Secretary
of the Lord Chancellor is open to persuasion, a belief
which in my experience once resulted in the offer of
a cheque, and sometimes in presents of game. With
one of these gifts the donor had sent a letter saying
that it was a good year for pheasants in his part of the
country, but had omitted to remove the label of the
London poulterer who supplied the carcases.

The notion that politics play a part in these appoint-
ments is now beginning to be less universal, but at
the time of which I am speaking it was more wide-
spread. Shortly after I took office I got a letter from
a candidate informing the Lord Chancellor that his
" strenuous efforts in his Master's service did not pre-
vent an unobtrusive devotion to the Conservative Club
twice a week in the evenings." I have also known
several cases where, on a change of Government, a
letter claiming reward for political services has been
found to be almost identical in terms with a former
letter from the same man addressed to the party which
had left office.

As regards doctrine, the general rule has been

280 AN UNFORTUNATE PRESENTATION [XV.

always to try to procure "continuity of teaching," i.e.,
to appoint an Evangelical where the traditions of a
parish are " evangelical " or vice versa. The strength
of the anti-papal feeling in England is still great, and
the appointment of a Moderate High Churchman to a
benefice no one else would take was often denounced
by persons of the opposite way of thinking. Most
letters of this kind are rather abusive than persuasive,
but I remember being much touched by a pathetic
note from an Evangelical lady, who wrote : " We
looked for a Cedar of Lebanon, and you have sent us
a cabbage."

The story of my first appointment to a living was
so disastrous as to be quite comic. After the vacancy
had occurred, the Lord Chancellor one day told me
that he had had a letter from a person on whom he
could rely, strongly recommending a man, who bore a
rather uncommon name, which I will call X., and
directing me to make enquiries. He did not give me
the letter, which had been left at his private house.
The applicants who wrote officially, were not
numerous, and among them was one who bore the
name mentioned by his lordship ; so I set the usual
enquiries on foot, assuming, which I ought not to have
done, that my X. was the same as the Lord Chan-
cellor's. The answers to the enquiries, appearing to
be satisfactory, I read them to the Lord Chancellor,
and he directed me to offer the benefice to my X. The
offer was accepted, and some days after, a furious
letter came from a landowner who owned a great
part of the parish which had been the subject of the
appointment, asking why a Radical and Home Ruler
should have been presented, who had already
announced a lecture on the wrongs of Ireland to be

1891-92] NEWFOUNDLAND FISHERIES 281

given in the village school. At last the Lord Chan-
cellor discovered the letter which he had received,
and we found that the X. recommended in it was quite
a different man from the X. whose application was in
my hands.

Subsequent events proved that the apprehensions
of the landowner were well founded. The clergy-
man in question asserted himself with considerable
vigour. Amongst other complaints against him, we
were told that, having quarrelled with the squire, who
kept the hounds, he preached a sermon on Esau, of
whom he remarked in the course of his discourse,
" Esau, my brethren, was a real sportsman ; he didn't
hunt for the subscription."

" April 22. The House of Lords fuller to-day than
it is even for the ' Deceased Wife's Sister's Bill.' The
reason was that the Newfoundland Delegates were to
address their Lordships on the Newfoundland
Fisheries Bill. Lord Dunraven moved that ' they be
heard,' and they were called in — four serious-looking
men, like substantial farmers in Sunday clothes, shy
and solid. Their spokesman read the protest against
the Bill with a slight American accent. It was defer-
ential and conciliatory. The reading lasted about an
hour. When it was over there was a hum of cheers,
and the debate was adjourned for their remarks to be
considered.

" May 4. Newfoundland Fisheries Bill in the Lords.
The Premier's temper not improved by a week's
toothache. He made the delegates squirm by saying
that the French would not take the trouble to invade
Newfoundland."

This year at Whitsuntide I went down to Gosford,
and lived in the new house for the first time. It was
a strange feeling to be living in a place which you had
known as a ruin for so many years.

" June 28. Prestons. There is a drawing of Goethe's

282 THE GERMAN EMPEROR [XV.

here — very curious — a landscape, evidently done from
nature with the most minute care. The composition
is stiff and bad, but the representation seems very
accurate. Great pains shown in the ' values ' of the
Indian ink washes.

"July n. The German Emperor is in London. I
saw him riding in the Row. He has a short, thick
body, and looked rather hunched up in the shoulders,
but sat well down in the saddle."

In the afternoon I went to the review at Wimbledon
to the House of Lords' stand, which was just behind
the Emperor's position. Some of his staff were there
waiting for him, very smart-looking officers in fine
uniforms, but seeming heavily padded. The Emperor
soon arrived. He wore a white uniform, with a black
cuirass, and a beautiful mediaeval helmet, on which
perched a silver eagle with outstretched wings. He
sat like a rock for nearly two hours, while the troops
marched past him. The Blues and the Artillery were
the best of the horse-soldiers, the Highlanders, and
one red regiment of volunteers, of the infantry.

"July 23. As the Permanent Secretary was away, I
had to look after the Lord Chancellor, and to stuff
some amendments on the Lunacy Bill into him when
he was sitting on the Woolsack. Rather alarmed,
but it came off all right, though at first he moved one
of the amendments exactly wrong, reading ' insert '
instead of ' omit.'

"July 31. Lord Cowper related the plot of a story
which he had read. A man who was engaged to be
married was told by a cheiromantist that he was fated
to commit murder. Being anxious to get this un-
pleasant job over before matrimony, he made several
attempts, but always failed, and had in consequence
constantly to postpone the ceremony. Eventually,
while wandering despairingly along the Embankment,
he sees a man leaning over the parapet, and hoists him
into the river. It was the cheiromantist. The murderer
marries immediately and lives happy ever after.

1891-92] TORLOISK 283

"August i. Wrest Mr. Wilde came. He was
a great talker and raconteur, and occasionally said
good things. The only one which I remember is,
that he said there ought to be 'a Form of Prayer
used for a Baronet.' In the afternoon he sat on the
lawn, surrounded by a large audience of ladies, to
whom he told stories. His signing of the visitor's
book was characteristic. It was a huge tome, with
large, thick creamy sheets. He did not sign on the
same sheet as the rest of the party, but took a fresh
sheet, on which he wrote his name towards the top,
and then executed an immense flourish, so that no
other name could be written on the same page."

In September, this year, I visited a new region, viz.,
Torloisk in Mull, belonging to Lord Northampton,
who had inherited it from his mother, Scott's friend,
Miss McClephane.

Torloisk was a solid house close to the sea on the
western slopes of Mull, looking over the Atlantic and
a breakwater of rocky islands.

Behind the house the ground rose in a series of
heathery ledges like Cyclopean steps, the rocks show-
ing on the faces. Between this rising ground and the
sea was a sort of wild park of knolls and terraces,
clothed with turf and fern, and strewn with fragments
of rock. Here and there grew copses of alder, oak,
and birch, twisted by the sea winds into fantastic
shapes. On the shore, the turf ended in dark rocks
and bright yellow seaweed. The sea being broken by
the islands, does not usually roar and rattle here as
on most parts of the coast, but as it is always heaving
from the outside swell, keeps up a sort of Gregorian
chant which is very soothing.

" Sept. 22. Went in the launch to Staffa. Landed
on the island, and walked along the ridge feeling
rather as if on the back of a sea monster. The

284 STAFFA [XV.

approach to the cave is along a rocky quay formed of
basalt pillars cut across like a honeycomb, which
make a rude pavement of octagonal slabs. The cave
is not as high as one would expect, and at first
appears as more curious than grand. But when you
get well into its dim recesses and hear the wash of
the swell and the occasional roaring of the great
stones tumbled about by the water, which comes up
from below, its impressiveness gradually grows upon
you. The pillars at the entrance are much like those
of an organ, with the outward convex sides flattened.
Inside it is difficult to believe that the roof is not
artificial, as the pillars are seemingly cut away, not
flat, but in the shape of an arch up to the apex of the
roof.

"Nov. 31. On my way to Bromley called at
Oakdene. The Jekylls were away. Their son, a
little boy of seven, came and showed me a book he
was writing, with floral designs for each month, and a
poem on the flowers. The poems were all printed in
pencil, the designs done in pencils and colours.
Some of these were stiff and angular, others good,
but all were ' designs.' The poems were rather
affected and full of conceits, but strange productions
to be by a child of that age.

"Dec. 23. To Longleat. The hills, woods and
water, the glorious proportion and beauty of the
architecture, the splendour of the internal decorations,
though not always quite perfect in detail, but
generally rich and massive, and all the wealth of
pictures, tapestries and objects of virtu, give it a high
rank as a human snail-shell.

"Jan. 12, 1892. I heard an interesting talk at the
Burlington Club between two of the old connoisseurs
there, on the possibility of a painter's style differing
to such an extent at different periods of his life as not
to be recognisable as the work of the same man.
One of them said that work done at different periods
sometimes bore no resemblance whatever, instancing
the present and the pre-Raphaelite Millais. The
opponent replied that he would always be able to
detect Millais' hand by the scheme of colour, the
neglect of browns and greys, and the tendency to
reds ; also by the length of the eyes and faces. I must

1891-92] MR. GLADSTONE AGAIN 285

say that I agree with the last contention ; though the
leopard may lose some of his spottiness, he will never
become an Ethiopian, whatever age he may be.

"March 12. Dined with the Cobhams. Mr.
Gladstone there. When he arrived he came briskly
into the room with an opera-hat under his arm, and
shook hands with the ladies in a gallant way. He
looked much the same as he had done last year, his
manner full of go and animation, and of interest in all
the concerns of life.

" When you see him in full face, the width of his
face and the strength of the brow give him a look of
dignity and power. But in the profile view there is
sometimes an expression of intense acuteness,
amounting almost to cunning. He never mentioned
politics, and talked very little of himself.

" Although his speech was nearly continuous, and
excellent small talk, it was not so interesting as last
year. The conversation flitted about so from one
topic to another that he never gathered way, or got
in any flow of reminiscence.

" As he was going downstairs to dinner, he broke
out with great animation about a case he had seen in
the papers — one of the ordinary actions about the
bite of a dog. He ridiculed with much emphasis the
doctrine of the scienter, which appeared a novelty to
him, and when we got downstairs chuckled very
much at the jury having found for the plaintiff, in
spite of the summing up of the Judge, and against the
law. Being on the subject of law, he alluded to the
recent case of a cabman who took a sovereign given
him by mistake for a shilling, saying that he thought
there could be, without knowledge, no moral stealing
in the Court of the Conscience, whatever it might be
legally.

" This story reminded him of a picture in Fun, which
he described with a good deal of humour. A lady
was depicted who had just got out of an omnibus.
The conductor was calling out ' All right, Bill, lady
on horseback,' and the driver was whipping up his
horses furiously, understanding from the conductor's
mystical utterance that the lady had given him a
half-sovereign instead of a sixpence. From this he
got to banks, and discoursed on banks helping each

286 MR. GLADSTONE AGAIN [XV.

other in crises, and said that he had often thought it
strange that no inconvenience had resulted from the
way a cheque was paid over the counter of a bank by
one man to one man, with no third person to witness
the transaction.

" The talk then passed on to the recent Osborne
trial. Mr. Gladstone thought that Mrs. Osborne's
sentence was not severe enough, and that it would be
dangerous doctrine indeed to take into account the
severer effect that a sentence might be supposed to
have upon a member of the upper classes, with a
view to diminishing its length. This train of thought
took him to a recent case where a Member of Parlia-
ment had been convicted of fraud as a trustee, and he
stated that the increase of this kind of offence was
quite a curious feature of recent times. The blame,
he said, was equally distributed on both sides of the
House ; except (rather theatrically deepening his
voice), on the ' poor ' Irish nationalists, who had to
be supported in Parliament by allowances, but had
never committed any fraud to get money. Someone
then alluded to the diminution in sinecures. Mr. G.
said that there was nothing dishonourable in accepting
a sinecure if it was recognised by the society in
which it existed, and not considered unusual or
unworthy. One of the last sinecures, where there
was absolutely nothing to do, which was not the case
with all sinecures, was the office of ' Chief Justice in
Eyre, North of the Trent.' It was held by Tom
Grenville, and was worth £12,000 per annum.

" The next subject on which he discoursed was
' strong language, ' which he heard was coming in
again at the public schools. It had been very bad
when he was at Eton, but had afterwards quite died out.
The old Royal Dukes had used fearful language. The
talk then went back to the public schools. Mr.
Gladstone said that he had been pleased with a grand-
son of his own who had refused to put into some
gambling lottery connected with horse-racing, and
had sent him a beautifully bound Tennyson to im-
press on his memory that he had done well. The
recent mention of the Royal Dukes then brought up
George IV. Mr. Gladstone said that George IV. led
the worst and most wretched life, but might have had

1891-92] MR. GLADSTONE AGAIN 287

some taste. Windsor Castle was restored in his time,
and though there was not a single good detail in the
building, the effect of the whole was very fine. He
then descanted on the absurdity of giving Lord Napier
of Magdala an equestrian statue, and still more of
putting him in one of the most conspicuous public
sites in London. You saw the statue of a vastly
greater man, and one who had actually brought out
Lord Napier, looking on from a subordinate position.

" This led him to decry the class of what he called
' art-coxcomb ' in the House of Commons, giving
instances, and thence he got on to Ayrton. Mr.
Gladstone's view of Ayrton was more favourable than
one generally hears. He said that A. was a man of
great power and honesty, and a peculiarly hard
hitter. He had Indian blood in his veins, which gave
him a sort of patience and indifference to attack, as
well as to the feelings and thoughts of other people.
He did very well at the Office of Works. Bob Lowe
had a strong dislike of Ayrton. Mr. Gladstone asked
Lowe, when he offered him the Chancellorship of the
Exchequer, if he would mind haying Ayrton as his
secretary. Lowe said, ' Oh leave him to me, I'll manage
him.' But he could not, and Mr. G.'s time in the
House was constantly passed in listening to Lowe
pouring complaints of Ayrton into one ear and Ayrton
of Lowe into the other. At last Ayrton had to be
moved, and was given the ' Office of Works. '

" Mr. Gladstone then went on to say how rare a good
Parliamentary ' shut-up ' was ; he did not remember
one from Canning, for all his ability.

" The talk then took rather a wide jump to one
Martin, Mayor of St. Raphael, whom Mr. Gladstone
had met abroad, and thought a remarkable man.
Martin had completed a military railway from Avignon
to Nice, through a mountainous country for over
thirty miles in eighteen months; an extraordinary
feat. He had afterwards joined a jute company which
Harry Gladstone was setting up at Chandernagpre,
where it was found easier to manufacture the jute
than in Scotland. Another Frenchman, called J.,
was a partner in the concern. He had been a rising
lawyer in the time of Napoleon III., but afterwards
had to fly the country on account of his political

288 MR. GLADSTONE AGAIN [XV.

opinions, and begin the world again. He started as a
clerk at Newcastle on £80 per annum, and was now
the largest coal merchant at Cardiff. He was standing
' for our side ' at Grimsby, and, though he spoke with
a strong French accent, the people did not mind it.

" I afterwards mentioned the recent article by Pro-
fessor Lombroso, which maintains that women felt
pain less than men. Mr. Gladstone asked how they
could test such a statement. He went on to say that
it was one of the humiliating effects of old age that he
could not bear pain nearly as well as forty years
ago. He thought the effect of a long political life was
rather to increase than to diminish sensitiveness.
However, he could only remember being kept awake
by worry on two occasions. The first time was when
he had to form his first ministry, and his mind was
kept on the stretch by thinking if A. was put in such
a place, how would B. take it, or how would A. get on
with C, and so on. At last he got up, lit a candle,
went to his writing-table and put down all possible
combinations on paper, which eased his mind, and he
went to sleep. The second occasion was once when
he had partly cut through the trunk of a large chest-
nut close to the house at Hawarden, but left the tree
standing in order that Lord Napier of Magdala, who
was to come the next day, might be present at its fall.
The tree was tied up with ropes to windward, just a
bit of the wood being left. In the middle of the night
the wind changed, and a gale got up which caused him
to lie awake, expecting every moment to hear the
crash of the tree falling on the house. However, it
never did fall, though he did not go to sleep till
daylight.

"March 28. In the House of Commons. George
Curzon introducing a Bill. He stood at the table,
looking like the great Sir Robert Peel, or some
statesman of forty years' experience, instead of a young
Under-Secretary in his first innings. However, he
did what he had to do very well. His diction was
rather Johnsonian, but clear, impressive, and con-
vincing. He ought to go far. He has such confidence
that he gives his good abilities their utmost chance.

" April 7. In the House of Commons. The Railway
Directors brought to the Bar, in a very full house.

1891-92] THE GENERAL ELECTION 289

Old Mr. Maclure read an apology. The other three men
stood behind the Bar — a copper rod pulled out from a
seat in front of the Serjeant s box. They made a lame
statement, agreeing with Maclure's apology, and then
backed, bobbing clumsily to the door. Sir M. Hicks
Beach proposed that they should be admonished,
rather an impotent conclusion to so much ceremony.
A debate then began, and went on till about one
o'clock, when they were admonished.

" Dined with J. S. Met Mr. Sargent, the American
artist. He struck me as curiously unlike what I
should have expected from his pictures, viz., a
vehement, scintillating kind of man with American
characteristics. On the contrary, he was rather a
solid English-looking person, with a nice quiet voice,
and talked agreeably, though deliberately.

"June 16. Going down to Panshanger, Lord Salis-
bury was in the carriage. Curious, shy demeanour.
He read an odd-looking book in a brown binding. At
Hatfield, a very small and smart tiger, in cockade and
tops, opened the door for him. The old, absent-looking,
carelessly-dressed giant stumbled out, a strange con-
trast to his jaunty henchman, who stood by touching
his hat.

"June 26. Called on David Wood. Saw a most
interesting drawing of Napoleon at St. Helena, which
came to David through his great-uncle, Lord Castle-
reagh. It was done just before death, and must have
been very like, the breadth of the cheek and the base
of the skull enormous."

A General Election is always a busy time at the
Crown Office. The Writs for the Peers and Commons
have been filled in, all but the dates, which remain to
be done at the last moment. As soon as they are all
completed, the Chief Clerk and one of his subordinates,
on the morning of the day that the proclamation dis-
solving Parliament is to issue, take the precious
bundles (except the Metropolitan writs, which are sent
by hand to the Metropolitan Sheriffs) in a four-
wheeler to the General Post Office. I have often

L.L. u

290 GAINSFORD BRUCE, J. [XV.

wondered when driving along the Embankment what
would happen if I were to stop the cab and throw all
the parcels into the Thames, and what would be done
to me if I indulged in this escapade.

On arrival at the General Post Office everyone gets
into a great agitation, which is not soothed until all
the writs have been ticked off by the post office people
on their lists, have been found correct, and assigned
to batches of clerks, who are in attendance to address
the envelopes. When this process, often a long one,
is completed, the Chief Clerk goes back to the House
of Lords, leaving his myrmidon in charge of the writs,
which are still technically in the custody of the Clerk
of the Crown. The Royal Proclamation ordering a
dissolution generally reaches the Crown Office about
4.30, when the Chief Clerk dashes off with it to the
G.P.O., and after it has been shown to the authorities
there, the writs are posted.

" July 13. In the absence of the Private Secretary,
I was sent by the Lord Chancellor to-day to offer a
judgeship to Gainsford Bruce, a pleasant task, as he
was an old comrade on circuit. I went down to the
Temple swelling with importance, but Bruce was not
in his chambers, so I followed him to the Courts of
Justice, where he was sitting as arbitrator. I stood in
the back of the Court until he saw me, when he turned
quite pale, conjecturing my errand. However, he
soon recovered when he came out and I gave my good
news, sitting on a bench in the passage."

CHAPTER XVI

1892 — 1895

Service under Lord Herschell — Parliamentary Ceremonies — Tummel
Bridge — A well-ordered House — British Museum — Dereen —
Somerset House — Home Rule Bill — Lord Roberts — Castle
Menzies — The Lord Chancellor and the Magistracy — Mr.
Chamberlain— Loseley — A Wild Beast — English Inefficiency — •
Hewell and Hagley — Cromwell's Statue — The Frozen Thames —
The End of Wilton — Return of the Unionists.

THE elections went against the Unionists, and Lord
Halsbury went out of office, being succeeded by Lord
Herschell, whom I had known for many years on
Circuit. I got a kind letter from him, offering me the
Private Secretaryship for Ecclesiastical Patronage,
which pleased me much.

The following passages taken from my diary of
August 6th of this year may perhaps be inserted
here.

" We have had an exciting time at Westminster,
with the assembling of the new Parliament. The old
ceremonies are a strange contrast to the present
realities. Black Rod in his sword and tights, knock-
ing thrice at the door of the House of Commons, while
Mr. Keir Hardie comes down to Palace Yard in a
wagonette accompanied by a bugler playing the
Marseillaise, and dressed in a yellow suit and a
stalking cap.

" I never saw the ceremony of ' knocking at the
door ' before, and it is certainly curious. Being in the
Lobby of the House of Commons I heard sonorous
shouts of ' hats off/ and looking towards the House of
Lords down a lane of excited spectators I beheld a
black speck, which on approaching turned out to be
Black Rod. He was a small man dressed in a court

u 2

292 PARLIAMENTARY CEREMONIES [XVI.

suit, and held in his hand a little rod like the kings
carry in picture books. The trim, prim figure passed
down the line of staring and smiling members clad in
every variety of garb, and, lifting his little sceptre,
struck the closed door of the House three times with
great deliberation. Then the door swung open, and
he delivered the message of the Lords to the Speaker
and the Clerks far away at the end of an empty House,
the faithful Commons staring at his back all the while.
Yesterday we had more ceremonies. The words in
which the Speaker receives the Queen's approval of
his election, and claims the privilege of the Lower
House were fine, owing to the strong old English
phrases employed. When that is over the ' swearing
in ' begins, and it strikes one as wonderful that no
more convenient methods should ever have been hit
upon. In the Commons there are a mass of members,
hot, ruffled, and angry, squeezing to get through a
narrow way leading between the benches and the
table to the Clerk who administers the Oath. In the
Lords the Peers have to wait till a batch of five collect,
when the Lord Chancellor is summoned from his room
to swear them.

" August 26, 1892. Rodono. The great feature here
this year is the invasion of the ' voles,' a sort of field
mouse. The moor in some places is riddled with holes
as if made with a dibble. Large numbers of owls,
of a kind which they say has never before been
seen here, are flapping about, come to devour the
voles.

"August 29. Craiganour. I walked down to Tummel
Bridge, where I had been on the reading party with
Jowett in old Oxford days.

" Starting off after lunch and with about two
hours' walking began to draw near the familiar
land. It was like those dreams in which you meet
some friend who is dead ; you are happy, but all the
time there is a consciousness that it is unreal. So
there was Schihallion, but not one's youth. There
were enclosures which I did not know, the pines
round the manse had grown taller, and (type of
progress) there was a corrugated iron shed in the
inn-yard. But the old stone bridge with its back
arched like a buck-jumper was the same, and

1892-95] A WELL-ORDERED HOUSE 293

Tummel himself was rushing underneath as he used
to do."

The following extract is from a letter written this
autumn.

" Here you have a capital specimen of the old
unchanging English upper-class society of the best
sort, hospitality, kindness, extraordinary comfort, and
all the domestic virtues. Our host is a good specimen
of his class. He made his own way in life before he
came in for the family estates, and is a tough, vigorous
man who does most things well. Like men of this
stamp, his energy assumes the shape of a benevolent
despotism, and all things are ruled with great pre-
cision. There is a china slate in the hall, on which
are inscribed the orders of the day, what carriages and
keepers are to go first, and who is to fish, and who to
shoot. Luncheon baskets are in apple-pie order, and
out shooting, instead of drawing for places with wads
or bits of paper, a little silver box is produced con-
taining numbered slips of ivory. In your room the
most convenient shelves and cupboards abound,
there are medicine spoons, and medicine glasses,
thermometer, and framed cards of the events of the
house, ' Carriages start for kirk at 11.30,' and the like.
The study of the master of the house is a sight, with
keys hanging on boards, docketed papers in glazed
cupboards, accounts, estate books, guns, sticks, axes,
fishing-rods, and a telephone communicating with
the keeper of the shooting lodge, with directions for
use written in a commanding, almost threatening
autograph.

" Nov. 22. Dinner at the Lord Chancellor's ; sat next
to the head of the British Museum. He said that the
total sum spent by the nation on the collection had
been half a million, the rest was all gifts. The lighting
at night had been a great failure, the installation cost
,£10,000, and the visitors at present were few. There
had only been one fire in his time. It began in the
binding shops, and burnt some books and a few valu-
able MSS. Though they have a double system of
electric lighting, these once, by an extraordinary
chance, both failed at the same time. The darkness

294 SOMERSET HOUSE [XVI.

lasted about half a minute. All the doors were shut
and people were searched as they went out. Nothing
was lost. He said that they constantly had first-class
University men applying for Assistantships at £120
per annum.

"Jan. 2, 1893. Dereen. Shot woodcock. It is
curious to hear the beaters uttering their strange cries,
' hi-cock,' ' houli,' ' hulli,' ' heiss ' — in melodious tones.
They give vent to explosions of this kind when a bird
appears, which is at first disconcerting in the aim. We
saw few woodcock. The low sun brings out the expres-
sion of the hills, as footlights do that of the actors.

"Jan. 31. Parliament met. Strange to see the
Irish all sitting with the Conservatives. The Liberal
Unionists sit on the Liberal side below the gangway.
I saw Mr. Gladstone take the Oath, at which there was
great cheering. Not a sound when Sir W. Harcourt
came up. He went on without signing the book, and
had to turn back, colliding with John Morley, at which
there was laughter.

"Feb. 3. In the Commons. Colonel Saunderson in
his comic vein. He read an indictment which had
been laid at Quarter Sessions against one Blake, M.P.,
'that he did steal, take and carry away the body of one
red deer against the peace of Our Lady the Queen her
Crown and Dignity.' Mr. Blake got up and defended
himself with much warmth, which made everyone
laugh the more. The fact had been that he shot the
animal while trespassing on his farm.

" Feb. 23. To Somerset House. Sat on the Committee
on Copying Wills. We visited the room where the
public read the copies, a curious sight. Various
expressions on the faces of the readers, surprise,
eagerness, cupidity, disappointment, exultation. A
good-looking woman was reading a will most dis-
contentedly, and abusing a young man who was with
her — ' I told you so,' etc. The wills are copied on
parchment, and bound, the originals being stowed
away. They go back to the fifteenth century, and
among them is Holbein's will. These vaults, dimly
lit and full of vast tomes, are impressive.

"April 1 8. To the House of Commons to hear Lord
R. Churchill on the Home Rule Bill. He was so
nervous that I thought he was going to break down,

1892-95] THE HOME RULE BILL 295

as he stammered and struggled for his words quite
painfully.

" April 19. Primrose day. A far larger crowd than
I have ever seen before around Dizzy's statue at
Westminster. It is regular image-worship. Curious
how the primrose fashion has spread. I saw lots of
workmen, cabmen, etc., with a bunch in their button-
hole, and the number of women wearing them was
prodigious.

"April 21. After dinner went to the House of
Commons to hear the second reading of the Home Rule
Bill. Not so much excitement as one would have
thought. No chairs on the floor of the House, and I
had no difficulty in getting a place in the gallery.
About 10.15 Balfour spoke, I thought very well.
During most of the speech the Government seemed
uncomfortable, and the front bench crossed and re-
crossed their legs, fidgetted and whispered. Mr.
Gladstone looked very grim.

The Maharajah of B. came to see the Lord Chancellor.
He was a stout Oriental in a turban, blue blouse and
spangled kilt, with his legs swathed in bandages, and
ending in a pair of patent leather shoes. He was

accompanied by Sir G. F , his secretary, and his

prime minister. The last was like a brown family
solicitor, with a very odd headpiece, a cross between a
hat and a bonnet made of a kind of oilcloth. He seemed
a very intelligent fellow. After the big man had inter-
viewed the Lord Chancellor alone, we showed them
round the House of Lords. The things His Majesty
noticed were the fresco of Waterloo and the worsted
work at the back of the Queen's chair in the robing
room. Sir G. F. attempted to explain the Watts frescoes
of ' Religion.' ' Mercy,' etc., quite unsuccessfully.

" May 9. Have been down this week-end sailing
about the familiar waters of the Solent on Carmarthen's
yacht, a 6o-ton yawl. We went into Portsmouth,
where I saw the Victory again with renewed
reverence. The old coal hulks there always excite
my pity. Their dingy battered sides, covered with
baulks and stains, and defaced with openings, are so
sad a come-down from what was once a line-of-battle
ship walking the waters, brilliant with paint burnished
copper and snowy sails.

296 MRS. PATRICK CAMPBELL [XVI.

" May 2$. Edinburgh. Having an hour to spare,
went to the Parliament House. Sat in a jury court,
where a right of way case was being tried before a
jury. Counsel made an excellent speech — no bunkum
such as would be employed for an English jury. A
good many big, bony Scots were sitting about,
listening intently, with fine, massive heads.

11 June 2. Went to The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.
A Mrs. Patrick Campbell — a new actress. I thought
her decidedly clever and original. She got a grip of
one directly. The play is not particularly good, but
she certainly made it interesting.

"June 14. Music at the T.'s. A. Herr. , who

has reconstructed all sorts of obsolete instruments,
such as viols, harpsichords, etc., an innocent little
hairy man, who made short speeches before each tune.
The music had a strange ghostliness, like echoes of
"old forgotten far-off things."

11 June 15. Oxford. St. Mary's surrounded with
scaffolding. Very picturesque it is. It also affords a
field of venture to the more merry spirits among the
undergraduates, who climb the poles till they reach the
ladders, whence they ascend to the highest point they
can get, and attach the flag of their college.

"June 21. Visited N.'s house at Fulham, a curious
place. In the dining-room was a large saw, and in the
drawing-room a half-built steam launch, which, M.
said would have to be launched by taking out
the windows. The place was full of chairs and
cabinets made by N. himself.

"June 29. Went to the Commons and heard the end
of Mr. Gladstone's Speech in Home Rule Committee.
He was very oratorical, and jumped and gesticulated,
using fine generalisations, but did not persuade.
Arthur Balfour was at his best. The tremendous ex-
citement prevailing had caught him and inspired him,
while he was as logical as ever. The House was very
full, and everyone's blood up. Dr. Tanner, standing
near me, expressed his joy at the atmosphere of battle,
and called it ' living again.'

"July 2. Panshanger. Took a walk with Lord
Roberts. He talked about India in an interesting
way. He said that if we left the country it would be
like opening all the cages in the Zoological Gardens,

1892-95] LORD CHANCELLOR AND J.P.'S 297

the different races and castes would destroy each
other. He thought there would be danger in making
native officers of high position in the army."

In September this year I stayed at Castle Menzies,
a gloomy old pile near Aberfeldy. I lived in a curious
room up in a tower, from which led a staircase to a
little turret, and on windy nights there were all kinds
of noises, and I used to expect that the ghost would
come down the turret stair. She is a lady who enters
the room and kneels down and prays. However, she
never came, but I had an experience of how easily a
ghost can be manufactured. Three or four times
during the night I used to hear footsteps going up the
staircase past my door. I was much puzzled by these
sounds, till I accidentally found out that they were
caused by a loose casement, which produced an extra-
ordinary imitation of tramping steps.

"Nov. 15. A large deputation of M.P.'s waited on
the Lord Chancellor on the subject of magistrates.
There was a good deal of talk about the 'people's
representatives,' etc. Conybeare, M.P., went the
furthest. He thought all magistrates should be
nominated by the M.P. concerned. This lasted for
about an hour. Then the Lord Chancellor spoke. He
was clear and straightforward, but, I thought, too much
like a prisoner on his defence, making a sort of appeal
ad misericordiam by telling them how hard worked he
was. However, he said plainly that as long as he
appointed, he, and no one else, should be responsible.
So far all had gone well. But just as the deputation
was leaving one of the members asked if the Lord
Chancellor would consider himself bound by a resolu-
tion of the House of Commons to alter the method of
appointment of magistrates by the Lord-Lieutenant
now prevailing. Unfortunately the Lord Chancellor
said that he should consider himself bound. We hear
that Mr. Gladstone thinks that a resolution of
one House does not bind the Executive to alter

298 MR. CHAMBERLAIN [XVI.

constitutional usage. The result of this concession
was to throw all the appointments upon the Lord
Chancellor, causing himself and his secretary infinite
labour and worry.

"Nov. 29. Panshanger. Sat in smoking-room
listening to Mr. Chamberlain. He talked about
America, which he had just been visiting, how
Anglicised it was getting, how strange it was that we
should be drawing it back to us. But none the less
was there much dislike of England, though less than
formerly. He thought that some tax besides income-
tax should be imposed if we were to raise more money,
e.g., a tax on sugar, which, when its first unpopularity
was over, would hardly be felt.

"Dec. 1 8. Ashridge. Characteristic party here,
who listen to reading aloud from the works of
Browning, and are otherwise eager for the higher life.
I can't help wondering what is the mental state of
many of the listeners after an hour of this. I fancy
that it is mere ritual in the worship of culture, in the
style of the prayer- wheel machines which are turned
by the Tartars.

1894. The lease of the house where I was living with
my sister Mary was to come to an end in March of this
year, and it was decided that we should separate. I
took a small flat in Wigmore Street.

" March 5. Great excitement over the political
crisis caused by the retirement of Mr. Gladstone.
Parliament prorogued at 1.30. The Commons kept
the Lords waiting more than ten minutes after they
were summoned, and I thought at one time that
the Revolution had begun, and that a message would
come from the Commons 'that they would see the
Lords damned before they came. The Queen's
Speech marvellously brief, sympathising with the
Houses on the shortness of their holiday.

"March 12. Parliament met. Lord Salisbury made
a bantering speech, clever as usual. The new Prime
Minister, Lord Rosebery, answered, a most difficult
task in the face of a hostile House. He made a good
speech, but was occasionally somewhat ornate, as

1892-95] LOSELEY— A WILD BEAST 299

when he compared Mr. Gladstone to a full river which
poured into the sea, after taking the tone of many
soils.

"April 14. To Loseley. A large party, among them
Rayleigh, Arthur Balfour, John Morley, and Neville
Lyttelton. Mr. Morley in private life is not at all a
bitter man, as you might expect from some of his
speeches in the House of Commons, but a taking,
likeable person, fair and courteous. He seems to
appreciate Arthur Balfour. The talk after dinner was
good, three first-rate heads and one first-rate memory.
Morley believes in the 'union of hearts,' and thinks
that if Home Rule were granted the Irish all over the
world would become patrons of Great Britain and
would want no more. After this I was not surprised
to hear him say that for the first twenty years of his
life he had lived apart from men in an atmosphere of
his own ideas, most of which he had now changed.

"June 2. Went to Cambridge to stay with Frederick
Maitland at Downing. My host's wife is a great lover
of animals, and various birds and beasts wander about
the rooms. This taste is not without its disadvantages.
Maitland told me that on one occasion he received an
express from the railway station to say that a large
monkey consigned to him had broken loose and was
eating the sofa in the ladies' waiting-room. He rushed
off, and the creature was secured with difficulty and
brought in a cab to Downing, where they found he
was quite unmanageable and terribly destructive. It
turned out that the lady had bought him on an
advertisement, thinking he was a small member of the
monkey tribe, whereas he turned out to be a large
ourang-outang. There was nothing for it but to wire
for the vendor and beg him to resume control at any
price.

"July 15. Minley Lodge. Went to see Hawley, a
place at the other end of Minley Manor. It had one of
those modern gardens, which affect not merely
simplicity, but desolation. There was a pavement
purposely cracked, with weeds and flowers planted in
the cracks, as though it were the court of a house in
ruins. The effect, in relation to the neat red house,
was simply untidiness.

"July 26. House of Lords. Debate on Budget and

II

300 HEWELL AND HAGLEY [XVI.

Death Duties. The Duke of Devonshire was manly
and vigorous, but somewhat antiquated in his argu-
ments. I thought that he made too much of the dis-
appearance of the wages of labour, and too little of
the dislocation of it. The money taken from the
landowners will not be thrown into the sea, but will
be used for the payment of labourers in other places.
But the dislocation will drive the labourers now on
the land into the towns, the very thing everyone
wishes to prevent.

"Nov. 19. Elvington. A farmer who goes about
the country lecturing on hens for the County Council
came to stay. He passes his whole life in this occupa-
tion, and in judging at shows, while his brother runs
their farm in Somersetshire. He told us a good deal
about hens, what delicate birds they are, and how
liable to catch cold. A propos of the great importa-
tion of eggs from France, he said that at present it
was impossible to impress on the small English pro-
ducer that he should rigidly keep his bargain. He
could not resist slipping in a bad egg now and again,
whereas the French peasant had learnt that if he
cheated he would lose his trade. My hosts went to
his lecture. They said that there were no poor people,
for whom the lecture was intended, among the
audience.

"Dec. 7. Hewell. The house is built of warm red
stone by Devey. I think it is perhaps the best modern
house I have seen.

" Dec. 10. From Hewell I walked to Hagley, a large,
massive structure, square-shaped, with low towers
at the angles. The rooms are fine, with some good
Grinling Gibbons carving in the library, showing in

E laces marks of rough usage, which resulted from the
ist generation of Lytteltons using the room for stump
and ball. An American once made an offer to buy
the contents of the drawing-room outright, ceiling,
carving, tapestry and furniture, for exportation to
New York.

" Hagley and Hewell seem to me, each in its own way,
to be typical of their times. Hagley of the eighteeenth,
Hewell of the end of the nineteenth century. One
should be peopled with persons in high heels and
deep-flapped coats; the other with "Souls." One

1892-95] CROMWELL'S STATUE 301

seemed to have grown naturally from the soil ; the
other to have been aesthetically designed. I was
conscious of a greater fascination in Hagley, though
Hewell was attractive. I suppose it is the aroma of
many lives of human interest which hangs all sorts
of vaguely-felt associations about the older abode
that are wanting in the new.

"Dec. 19. I saw the Prime Minister and Henry
Primrose prospecting in Old Palace Yard to look for
a site for Oliver Cromwell. I was told that they had
settled to put him in New Palace Yard, whence he
could see the roof of the hall on which his head was
said to have been exposed. But apparently they
wished to spare his feelings, as the statue was put in
the sort of ditch that runs under the new buildings.
It was a triumph of the sculptor's art, combining a
general likeness to the Protector, with touches of
Rosebery, Asquith and Haldane. The weak part of
it was the lion on the pedestal, who looked more like
a penwiper than a symbol of majesty.

" Feb. 14, 1895. The river is a strange sight. It is
covered with floating ice, and crowded with seagulls
standing on the floes, swimming in the intervals, or
wheeling in the air ; people feeding them in places.
The piers of the bridges are encrusted with scurfy
masses of dirty ice, two of the pillars of Charing
Cross Bridge being joined by a frozen arch. The
steps of the Embankment are piled with large blocks
in chaotic formation. Above each set of steps, or
wherever there is any obstacle, a solid ledge of ice
has formed, against which the floes are grinding with
a low swishing sound as they are carried past by the
tide. The gulls show white against the grey sky and
water, and fill the air with their melancholy screams.

" March 4. Dined at the Asquiths. Our host told
me that the second official key,* which I and other
private secretaries use, was the only key until 1882,
and has been unaltered since the time of Pitt. But
about 1882 it was thought that there was a leakage,
and a new key was made, supplied to Cabinet
Ministers only, and to the Private Secretary of the
Prime Minister. Mr. Gladstone, who was a great

* This refers to the key used for Cabinet Boxes, not to the
ordinary " red box " key.

302 THE END OF WILTON [XVI.

conservative about trifles, used to rail against these
two keys.

"March 13. A deputation of railway servants to
the Lord Chancellor praying that in case of inquests
affecting railway servants, a representative of their
society should be admitted before the coroner with
power to ask questions. Most of them good, honest,
square-headed fellows. Their ignorance of barristers,
or, as they call them, ' learned gentlemen,' was comic.
Their conception of barristers was doubtless taken
from the small attorney's clerk. But they complained
that ' learned gentlemen ' were ignorant of the meaning
of such recondite terms as 'signal-box' and 'points.'
They were so courteous that they specially maintained
that they did not want to accuse them of ignorance as
'learned gentlemen,' but of ignorance as railway
experts. They were much surprised that the Lord
Chancellor should know what a ' chair ' meant.

"April 8. The Speaker (Peel) took leave of the
House. He looked ill, and leant on one arm of his
chair, bending rather forward. His voice was as fine
as ever, and he expressed himself with dignity. I
never saw so many Members present, except on the
introduction of the second Home Rule Bill. A solid
red Philistine near me was sniffing audibly."

On May 3rd, George Pembroke died, the first
of our band of friends to go. I had always been fond
of him, and I think he liked me. But we never
became intimate, being both too thin-skinned to be
quite at ease in each other's presence.

He was buried at Wilton, on a beautiful May day.
Nearly all the friends were there. He was drawn to
his grave in the little churchyard outside the gates by
some of his tenants, and there was no hearse or
trappings of woe, but the sunlight played joyously
upon the procession through the great poplars, and
the stream danced and sparkled as we crossed the
bridge. The very beauty and brightness of the day
increased our feelings of sorrow at parting with our

1892-95] MR. SARGENT 303

comrade of so many happy times, as no one was more
alive than he to the influences of earth and sky.

"June 10. In the New Gallery. A striking picture
of Miss Rehan, the actress, by Sargent. He is without
doubt the most original talent of the last ten years in
this island, though I often feel that his work affects me
unpleasantly. Still, it knocks one down with its
startling vigour and life, and the freedom and sure-
ness of the handling. In my eyes his pictures are
deficient in some of the higher qualities. He has insight
of a kind, but not great imagination or feeling for
composition, and the sketchiness of the extremities is
often unpleasant. Yet it cannot be denied that his
portraits have extraordinary vitality, in spite of
something uncanny, like Walpurgis-nacht spirits
called into being by the wand of an arch-wizard.
Thus with the ' bon ' we have also the ' bizarre!

"June 24. Saw in the papers that the Liberal
Ministry had resigned, having been beaten on the 2ist
by seven on a War Office vote. Went into the Com-
mons, which was like a hive of bees which had been
kicked over. Heard Harcourt resign, and with tears
in his voice talk of his leadership of the House.
Balfour was complimentary to Harcourt, but objected
to the tactics which put the Government on a Ministry
which had already been turned out by that very
House of Commons. Lord Rosebery in the Lords
was short, to the disgust of the many spectators,
mostly ladies, who had hoped to hear an ' apologia
pro vita sua.'"

CHAPTER XVII
1895 — 1899

Naval Review — Tour in Italy — Blowitz — B. Constant — Society and
Parliament — Mr. Fox's Funeral — C. Rhodes — Watts — Lord
Selborne — Service in the Abbey — Hornby — Death of Mr. Glad-
stone— A Wreck — Cromer — A Paper Mill — Bowood — Miss F.
Shaw — Committee on County Courts — Women on Town
Councils — The Boer War — Eton Revisited.

"June 28, 1895. In spite of rumours and 'authorita-
tive statements 'that the Conservatives would not take
office, we heard that Lord Salisbury had kissed hands.
Then came the usual hurry-scurry over the documents
necessary for starting the new Government, the
Treasury and Admiralty Commissions, and the
appointment of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

"July !3- Parliamentary picnic to see the Italian
Fleet at Spithead. Owing to the elections, hardly
any members of the Lower House could come, and
there were few peers. The captain of the Reserve
and some other officers met us, and took us over the
dockyard. We began with the torpedoes.

" We then went over the ' Majestic,' our newest type
of battleship, a mere chaos, every corner full of
begrimed workmen having their dinner. She is built
on the plan of having all her guns separated by
heavy bulkheads, which makes her a sort 01 Cyclopean
honeycomb. After lunch we went out to Spithead in
a tug. The Italians and the Channel Fleet were
anchored in two parallel lines. The Italians with low
black hulls, carrying a great deal of top hamper, are
like floating ironworks. But they were smart, and
the rigging well set up. Our ships sit better on the
water and have less top hamper, but great crops of
funnels and ventilators looking like huge fungi. After
going up and down the lines we stopped, and the
torpedo catchers steamed past us, ugly black creatures
plunging along as fast as an ordinary train, and

1895-99] NAVAL REVIEW 305

throwing up the water in clouds of spray, a fine sight.
It was supposed to be too rough for us to go along-
side an Italian, so we missed an inspection of their
interiors, which was a pity.

"August 4. Bicycling now is all the rage in
society. The parks are full of bicyclists, and breakfast
parties are made at Battersea with bicycling after-
wards. At Wildernesse nearly everyone brought a
machine, and the Danish Ambassador, a man of ample
proportions, fired by the prevailing enthusiasm,
having mounted a bicycle, staggered about the lawn,
held up by a person on each side, gazing up into the
skies, as if to find balance and comfort there.

"August 19. Gosfprd. ' Fish Smart,' the champion
skater, gave an exhibition on a new kind of road
skate. They were about 18 inches long, with wheels
at each end like little bicycle wheels. They weigh
about 3 Ibs. each. Smart performed on the roads, and
went a good pace, though apparently at the cost of
much exertion. He seemed a capital man, with no
swagger. He told me that he had only once been
beaten on the ice, and that by a Norwegian, who, he
confessed, was the better man."

On September 22nd I started with Edward
Poynter on a tour abroad. We went through Lille,
Brussels, and so on to Venice and North Italy, doing
all the picture galleries carefully.

My companion had come abroad partly to look at
certain pictures with a view to buying them for the
National Gallery, and we accordingly visited various
North Italian towns. The duties of this occupation
were sometimes of a painful character, and I remember
at Padua, Poynter joined me at lunch in a very
depressed condition, having had to inform an old
Marchesa, who had been expecting for some time to
restore her family fortunes by the sale of an ancestral
Raphael, that the picture was worth about los. 6d.
As it may be supposed, it was very pleasant doing

L.L. X.

306 BLOWITZ— B. CONSTANT [XVII.

the galleries with a friend who had so much know-
ledge and enthusiasm, and whose position enabled me
to see much that was not generally shown to the
public. Another advantage of Poynter's society was
that, having been much in Rome as a young man, he
was thoroughly up in Italian swear-words, and could
frighten away the most persistent beggar or cicerone
with the utmost ease.

11 Dec. 13. Bearwood. A large party. Among them
Blowitz, the Times correspondent at Paris, and
Benjamin Constant, the French artist. Blowitz a very
peculiar person. His great round head has no neck,
and seems to rise almost directly from his body, from
which it is only separated by an immense necktie
tied in a butterfly bow. Below are a pair of short
legs. But in spite of this odd exterior I thought him
a likeable person, and entirely without self-con-
sciousness. Constant was a great contrast, a well-
set-up man, like an actor in plain clothes. He had
a naive vanity and confidence in his own powers,
describing one of his works as 'c'est la poesie meme.'
He said that the French Impressionists claim to be
descended from Goya and Turner. They had no

Sreat repute in France, and were bought mainly by
nglish and Americans. He was hot against them,
and said that if ' Impressionism ' was the right art,
there was then no Italy.

"Dec. 16. Took M. Constant over the interior of
the House of Lords, which he admired, to my surprise.
Then to the National Gallery, where he was very
keen on the Sir Joshuas and Lawrences, more than
on the Gainsboroughs, specially selecting the fine
portrait of Lord Heathfield for his praise. He liked
the earlier and some of the late Turners, also the
Cromes and Constables. Did not care for Hogarth,
Walker or Rossetti. He thought that Sir Joshua
was the outcome of Vandyke, and the French School
of 1830 of Sir Joshua.

" Feb. 20, 1896. Burlington Club. Old Mr.
Vaughan discoursing. He told a story of a Greek

i89S-99] RYE— A GIRTON GIRL 307

vase which had been exhibited at Colnaghi's. All the
cognoscenti flocked to see it, and worshipped it for
many days, till it was discovered to be a Wedgwood.
"March i. Lunch at Lord Cowper's. M. de Staal,
the Russian Ambassador there, an agreeable old
gentleman. He said that the Russians would not
take Constantinople at a gift, but what they wanted
was an exit to the Mediterranean. He mentioned
some fascinating foreign Countess who had three
heroes : Luther, Frederick the Great, and Arthur
Balfour — a mixture which was as odd as old Sam
Martin's triumvirate mentioned in a former chapter.
There was a good deal of talk about Protection, which
everyone seemed to think quite impossible. An
absurd scheme was mentioned, viz., that the State
should buy so much corn every year at a fixed price
from the farmers, for a supply in case of foreign war,
to be sold the next year if it was not wanted.

" April 7. To Rye. An attractive town full of
picturesque old bits of building. In the church the
pendulum of the great clock comes down into the
aisle, and swings to and fro in view of the congrega-
tion. This visible reminder of the march of time has
a most solemnising influence, and must greatly add to
the effect of the sermon.

"April 14. Heard two things to-day which are
worth putting down, (i) From a boy's Latin theme —
' Hae quaestiones sunt neque hie neque illic.' (2)
Scholl, a French wit, met a rival archaeologist who
cut him dead, saying "Je ne vous connais pas."
" Me prenez-vous, monsieur, pour une inscription
latine r " retorted Scholl.

" May 6. I met to-day a novel product of modern
life, viz., a young woman of fashion who has
abandoned balls to study moral philosophy at Girton.
Her dress was that of a fashionable member of the
Salvation Army, a large, shadowy bonnet hovering
between the ugly and the picturesque, and garments
of the solid type. She was a bit priggish, like all
very young people with something in them. Though
by way ot studying the ancients and philosophy, it
did not seem to me that the cult of either had entered
at all into her soul.

"May 10. Oxford. Went to the Balliol Cricket

x 2

3o8 THE LAST OF THE ORATORS [XVII.

Ground. The fellows have just bought an addition
to it, as a memorial to Jowett, a step which seemed to
me singularly appropriate. Not only would Jowett's
practical sentiment have been satisfied with the
acquirement of ground for healthy recreation, but his
tolerance would in this case have been gratified by
the benefit which the space and amenity conferred on
the neighbouring Manchester College, a nonconformist
seminary.

" July 10. House of Lords. Third Reading of the
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. Peeresses' galleries
crammed, of course, and all sorts of ' lame, halt, and
blind ' peers turned up, who never show on other
occasions. The Duke of Argyll spoke. This was
probably the last chance of hearing classic ' oratory '
as it has existed since the time of Pericles. For
there is none in any other country, and the Duke is
the last of the orators in this, and will probably never
speak again in public."

At the end of this month Lady Wemyss, who had
been a second mother to me, died, and I went to
Gosford to her funeral.

"August 6. House of Lords. The Irish Land
Bill in Committee. The Government defeated again
and again. This is an instance of one of the defects
of the House of Lords. The English Unionist Peers
are now leaving London, and will not stay up for a
Bill which does not affect them. So the Peers who
are against the Bill, mostly Irish Landlords, are able
to defeat the Government.

" August 17. My dentist told me two rather
interesting stories apropos of a talk on the character
of a gentleman, (i) Byron met Grimaldi, the clown,
at dinner at a great house and said to him when the
clown was eating a plate of apple tart, ' Let me give
you some mustard ; we always take mustard with our
apple tart.' (2) Thackeray was dining at Holland
House. Before the dinner the company were out on
the terrace. A young buck went up to Thackeray
and said, 'They are getting very common here. I
believe they have asked that fellow Thackeray.'

1895-99] MR. FOX'S FUNERAL 309

Thackeray said nothing, and the buck did not find
out his mistake till Lord Holland drank wine with T.
at dinner. This story my dentist had heard from a
patient of his who was present."

In the beginning of November I went to Bramham
to attend the funeral of my uncle, George Lane Fox.
He was one of the last of the race of old English fox-
hunting squires, a man of fine presence and much
energy of mind and body, but who for seventy years
had made hunting a profession, and had spent on it an
amount of power, endurance and self-denial that
would have made in another channel half a dozen
" successful men."

The morning of the funeral broke cold and wet,
the rain pouring down on the hothouse flowers and
the shiny black coats, while the bearers staggered
and slipped in the yellow Yorkshire mud. We went
down through the grey limestone houses of the
village and a crowd of gazing natives, who, like true
Yorkshire folk, made no sign, only one or two taking
off their hats, while the village boys in their thick,
north-country boots ran beside us. As the service
was read over the grave and the fine hymn " Now
the labourer's task is o'er " was sung by the choir, I
could not help thinking that it hardly described my
uncle, and that he would be very uneasy at so much
"fuss," as he would call it, being made over him.
When it was all over we went back to the house, and
I heard the parrot calling out in my uncle's voice
" Tally-Ho, gone away."

" Dec. 4. Was told a story of Curtis, the Bostonian
wit. On his going to a dinner party his hostess met
him, and said, ' It is too unfortunate, Mr. Curtis, you
will meet only three lady guests and myself; all my

3io CECIL RHODES [XVII.

men have thrown me over.' Curtis at once answered
1 Madam, to be fore-warned is to be four-armed.'"

Here is another example of Bostonian salt.
Proposals were being made before the Boston Town
Council for making some change in the streets to
improve a particularly exposed place called " Windy
Corner." Appleton said, "Tether a shorn lamb there
at the expense of the ratepayers."

"Jan. 6, 1897. The Lord Chancellor in bed with
influenza. It is said to be the first time in his life that
he has been in bed in the daytime, with the exception
of one day when he had the measles as a child.

"Jan. 23. Dined with the H.'s. Sir Redvers Buller
there. He thinks highly of Rhodes, says that he is a
' big man,' and that if people do not agree with him now
they will have to do so some day. Sir R. told us that
he had once asked Frank Rhodes, the brother, whether
he could remember any characteristic anecdote of the
great man's childhood. Colonel Rhodes said that
once when they were boys Cecil wanted to go to
London, and asked him if he had a spare clean shirt,
as his own were all dirty. The Colonel answered
that he had only one, which he wanted for a local
dance the next day. Nothing more passed, but Frank,
as a matter of precaution, watched his brother to the
station, and seeing that he had no luggage, felt secure.
It turned out that Cecil had the clean shirt on under
his other one.

"Feb. 3. To the House of Commons to hear the
debate on Female Suffrage. Crowds of very plainly
dressed ladies in the Lobby. Mr. Labouchere
opposed the motion, in a speech which in my opinion
was right in the main, though perhaps a little too hard
on the ladies. He confessed that he had once voted
for the Bill in company with John Bright, who after-
wards told him that he had repented. This was true,
as I heard Bright say so at Strathallan about 1876 or
1877-

"Feb. 13. To see the Watts pictures. The colour
is to me often unpleasant, but the best are fine, though

1895-99] WATTS— LORD SELBORNE 311

not quite the finest. There is, with the lofty spirit they
all show, in some of them a touch of the grandiose.
Nor is the composition of the greatest kind. He is
best in his portraits, some of which are of the first
rank, though great accuracy of likeness does not seem
attempted. It is greatness of aim, however fitfully
realised, in which he excels. There is no living artist
near him in this respect. But his life has always been
rather apart from men, and his art is somewhat apart
from nature.

" March 25. Eight of the Queen's Bench Judges
sat in the House of Lords to hear Allen v. Flood.
They were in their red robes, at a long narrow table,
which looked like an omnibus full of old ladies. The
Lord Chancellor was in his black robe and wig ; the
other Law Lords in morning coats and jackets, a motley
pageant, and very characteristic of this country.

"March 31. A party at the H.'s. Cinquevalli, the
fashionable juggler, performed. I don t care for
jugglers. I shouldn't feel the least surprised if I were
to see one cut off his head and put it in his pocket,
nor would it give me any satisfaction.

"May 9. Went to see Watts at Limmers Lease.
We had some talk. He said that he thought in sheer
natural ability Walker was the first English artist of
the century ; Millais next. He told a story how the
Due D'Aumale had once asked Panizzi to recommend
someone as a teacher of Italian. He did so, but the
man never came, and it turned out to be Orsini, who
had left England that day to make his attempt on the
life of Napoleon. If he had once set foot in the Due
D'Aumale's house, nothing would have cleared the
Duke from suspicion.

"May 1 6. I have taken advantage of a lull in the
work to clear out, sort and destroy old papers in the
office, of which there are several cupboards full,
which no one has had time to touch. I have been
amazed at the astonishing industry of Lord Selborne
disclosed by the papers of his time. I suppose he was
a quick worker, but one can hardly imagine how a
Chancellor with all his duties could have noted almost
every letter himself, drafted with his own hand parts
of rules and Acts of Parliament, and written elaborate
minutes on all kinds of subjects.

312 THE FIRST DAY OF TERM [XVII.

"August 3. House of Lords. The King of Siam
came in the afternoon. Intelligent-looking, dark man,
with a childish face and a round forehead. A suite
of little dark men accompanied him. A chair was
placed for him beside the throne, but he did not
appear to derive much satisfaction from Lord Balfour
of Burleigh introducing a Scottish Bill, as he soon
rose from his seat and disappeared.

" Sept. 10. I had an interesting ride on bicycle from
Innerleithen to Gosford, right through the middle of
the Moorfoot Hills, a wonderfully wild and lonely
region, though only about thirty miles from Edinburgh.
There is one striking place on this journey, where the
road emerges from a sort of corridor on the top of the
ridge, and you suddenly see below all the plain
stretching to the North Sea, Edinburgh with its cloud
of smoke, and the Pentlands ' enthroned in storm. '

" Oct. 22. Edrington. A ludicrous scene out
shooting. W.'s French valet trying, like St.Christopher,
to carry his master on his back over a muddy stream,
and floundering in it up to his middle. No English
servant would have done so heroic a deed. But to a
Frenchman the chance of being the centre of a
dramatic situation, even though a farcical one, is
irresistible.

" Oct. 25. A service was started this year in West-
minster Abbey on the first day of term for the Judges
and Bar, to correspond to the ' Red Mass ' held by
the Roman Catholics. It was an impressive spectacle.
The Lord Chancellor is received at the West door by
the Dean and Chapter, and then walks up the nave
between the Judges and Barristers massed on either
hand, who, when he has passed, fall in behind and
proceed to their places in the choir. The Judges
are in the stalls, the Q.C.'s below them, and the Junior
Bar further up the church. The scene in the Abbey
was a striking one, so many expressive faces set off
by the wigs ; and the sombre robes of the bar, relieved
by the dash of colour from the Judges' red gowns.

" Oct. 27. Lord Herschell dined with me. He is
just back from a tour in Russia. He says that the
younger people speak English there far more than
French, and the same in Austria. He thinks it is the
language of the future.

1895-99] HORNBY 313

"Dec. 10. Hornby Castle. The house stands in a
large bleak park, looking to the Dales on the west,
and the long straight ridge of the Cleveland Hills
on the east. It is a great rambling turreted dwelling
of many ages and styles, wind-beaten and rain-worn,
till the arms above the gateway are more like a sponge
than an escutcheon. There are some fine rooms with
heavy cornices, and massive carved decorations,
dark abodes, cavernous, and hung with grim ancestors
in great faded frames. There are long porthole-lit
passages crowded with lesser ancestors in still more
faded frames, who overflow into the bedrooms. The
present owners have made an oasis of warmth and
light in some of the living-rooms round the central
hall, but the bedrooms are still in their pristine
dinginess and draughtiness, and at this time of year
the wind roars in the old towers and chimneys like
waves on a shingle beach.

"Dec. 14. House of Lords. Judgment given in
Allen v. Flood. It is a great triumph for the Trade
Unions, but vindicates the impartiality of our Judges,
as there are two Tories and two Liberal Unionists in
the majority.

"Feb. 15, 1898. To House of Commons. Heard
Asquith resume adjourned debate on Indian Frontier.
He is effective, and never hesitates for a word, though
a bit forced at times. Still, I think he is one of the
best natural speakers in the House, one of the few
who has something behind the words which tugs at
you as you listen.

"March 24. Sat next an American lady who said
that she had gone out salmon fishing in Scotland, and
having caught a fish, in a moment of enthusiasm she
turned to the boatman and said, ' Donald, I should
like to kiss you. ' Donald answered, ' Madam, I
wadna do that '

"March 27. Tennyson came to tea. He gave me
the correct version of the story of Mrs. Cameron and
his father alluded to in a former chapter. Mrs.
Cameron came one day about 10 p.m., to insist on the
poet being vaccinated, and followed him up to the
smoking-room, where he had retreated and locked
himself in. She hammered at the door, calling out
1 Alfred, you are a coward. ' Alfred reiterated

314 MR. GLADSTONE'S DEATH [XVII.

' Woman, go away, I will be vaccinated to-morrow. '
He kept his promise, but being done from a gouty
baby, had eczema in his leg for two years."

In the beginning of April of this year I went out to
Florence to stay with the de Vescis at the Villa Placci.
I may say that I remember those three weeks as
among the most charming of my life. I visited all my
old friends at the Pitti and the Uffizi, and saw several
fine pictures which had been discovered since my last
visit, or which I had not found out on that occasion.

"May 17. The great ' Kempton Park' case on in
the Lords, in which the subtlest intelligences in the
law have been disputing for days what a ' place '
means in the ' Betting Act ' ; a subject capable of
infinite argument.

"May 19. Heard of Mr. Gladstone's death. A
strange pathos about it. All that energy and power
of mind and body gradually dying out, with, one may
say, the whole world sympathetically looking on. The
adjournment of the Commons was moved directly
after prayers, so that I missed hearing what was said,
as did many others.

" May 20. To Commons to hear the address moved
for Mr. Gladstone's funeral. The House would not have
any questions, but shouted them down. Balfour not
expecting this was late, and came in hastily, looking
ill. His speech was simple and moving. Sir W.
Harcourt somewhat Johnsonian.

" In the Lords. Lord Salisbury was telling, making
with great effect the point that it was Gladstone's
moral greatness which joined all men to do him
honour ; ending up with the words ' he was a great
Christian man. '

" May 26. Went into Westminster Hall and looked
at the crowd pouring in two streams round Mr. Glad-
stone's coffin. A striking sight ; there were no trap-
pings, just a plain coffin and four candles. The crowd
was not dense, but one continuous stream of tidily-
dressed persons flowing silently by.

"June 25. With the Lord Chancellor to Bradfield

1895-99] A WRECK 315

College to hear a Greek play. They have made an
imitation of a Greek theatre in a chalk pit, round
which are concrete seats in the shape of an amphi-
theatre.

" They gave Antigone. Antigone and Ismene done
by two of the masters' wives. The rest of the cast
masters and boys. It rained all the time, which was
rather depressing, and did not improve the dress of
the Chorus, who were not under cover.

"July 2. To stay with Tennyson at Aldworth^ A
beautiful place on the south escarpment of Blackdown,
where one feels like a god in Olympus, ' girdled with
the gleaming world.' At the back of the grounds is
the down, bright with fern set in dark heather. On
the edge of this open space, looking west, we were
shown a summer-house where the poet used to sit
gazing at the sunset.

"July 7. Benefices Bill on in the Lords. I stayed,
as in duty bound, all through the debate. Lord
Salisbury hit the nail on the head when he said that
' there was no discipline in the Church.'

"Sept. 14. Lochinch. Bicycled to see the wreck of
a ship which went ashore on the coast of the Mull last
week. She had been laden with whiskey, and the
coast was strewn with casks for miles. Before the
arrival of the coastguard, the natives, who fortunately
were sparse, broached the casks and were perpetually
drunk. Two of them died. One man got under a
cask, which was jammed between two rocks, and
boring a hole with a gimlet, let the liquor flow into
his mouth, killing himself in about ten minutes. The
poor ship was on a reef about 100 yards from shore,
with a broken back. Her bow was cocked up out of
the water, and her bowsprit pointed helplessly to
heaven, like hands and arms extended in futile prayer.
A large piece of iron kept banging with a mournful
noise against her stern. The amount of dtbris was
quite astonishing. The shore was covered for a great
distance with casks, timbers, furniture, and feathers
from the mattresses. The coastguard told us that no
steps could be taken for the recovery of the cargo till
after the Board of Trade enquiry. The coastguard get
no ' salvage ' whatever.

" Oct. 2. The Grove, Cromer. The lighthouse here

316 A PAPER MILL [XVII.

on the ridge above this house attracts me. I have
never lived near a lighthouse before. I like to walk
on the downs at night and watch its great eye come
stealing round, throwing a pale shaft through the
whirling sea-smoke on to the dark ridges of the down,
which leap into sight for a moment, and then vanish,
as the light races over the ground. When I am in bed
at night the beam lights up the window blind, and I
feel as it disappears that in a few seconds it is flashing
on the wet decks of the ships miles away at sea.

" Oct. 17. Bawdsey. To Felixstowe links. It is an
interesting sight to see the great Thames barges
coming into the Deben when the wind is fair. A
man gets up on a pair of steps like library steps
and waves a flag, when the barge is opposite the
channel. She then bears up, and comes rolling in
through the tumbling waves on the bar, till she
shoots into the calm water of the estuary and goes
sliding along close under the turf-bank, the sun
gleaming on the great bellying sails.

" Oct. 21. Drayton. Norwich. Went with J. H.
Walter to his mill at Tavenham, where the Times paper
is made. He seems to run the show entirely himself.
I could not see even a clerk. The mill itself is a
picturesque place on the river Wensum, like an Albert
Durer drawing. About a hundred people are employed,
the paper being made from rags and esparto grass. We
saw great sacks full of the most repulsive-looking rags,
which come from the dust heaps of London, and were
being sorted by a lot of old women. In spite of their
occupation they looked very cheerful, and J. H. said
that they had never had a case of infection. The rags
and the grass are mashed up by various processes into
a pulp, which is whitened by bleaching powder, and
blue and cochineal added to give tone. Finally a thin
sheet of pulp is spread over a flat wire strainer. The
water runs off, and a film of pulp is left, like the collo-
dion on an old-fashioned photo plate. This is pressed
under a roller, and becomes a sheet of paper.

"Nov. ii. Went to Bowood for week-end. Com-
fortable house with an unusual number of books in
the rooms. Some fine pictures, the Rembrandt Mill,
a magnificent work, which may be called the parent
of all the Turners, full of the poetry and mystery of

1895-99] MISS FLORA SHAW 317

the best modern landscape. It pleased me to think
that I was standing in front of the same fireplace
where Macaulay and Charles Austin kept a whole
country-house party listening to their talk from
breakfast to dinner — a feat which nowadays seems
incredible.

" Dec. 8. Went to say ' Good-bye ' to George Curzon,
who has been made Viceroy of India. His house pre-
sented a scene of confusion. Immense boxes filled the
hall, and George's own room was littered with all kinds
of male impedimenta. He said that he did not anticipate
that the official work would be so wearing as here, as
it would be done under his own conditions, and not
under those imposed by the House of Commons. I
said ' Good-bye ' and ' Good luck,' feeling a bit senti-
mental, as one must at any parting.

"Feb. 9, 1899. House of Lords. Debate on the Crisis
in the Church. Considerable excitement, the House
very full, and all kinds of M.P.'s listening, who I should
not have thought would have been interested. The
Bishop of Winchester began with a good and moderate
speech. His rival for the Primacy, the Bishop of
London, followed, with more stuff, but less judgment.
I should back Winchester to win the race. The whole
question rather like punting in deep water ; you make
little way, and that only when the water is still.

"Feb. 1 8. Dined at the M.'s. Miss Flora Shaw, of
the Times, there. She described her adventures at
Klondyke. Apparently the worst part of the business
was the steamer going there. She was the only woman
in a small box of a cabin crowded with men. The
captain lent her his bunk when he was not using it,
but it was against the funnel, and at times intolerably
hot. The men were always civil, and even kind. On
landing, she had to walk for four days across a swamp,
crossing the ditches on trunks of trees. The only
luggage she could carry was a pair of stockings in her
pocket. The ones she had on got wet through directly
she started, but she always changed at night and dried
her boots. They got very stiff, but she had a small
pot of complexion cream with which she anointed
them. At Dawson City, twenty miles from the diggings,
she hired a servant. The regular wages were £3 a
day, but she got him for four hours at two dollars an

3i8 COMMITTEE ON COUNTY COURTS [XVII.

hour. He made her a capital tent, with a bed of fir
boughs, and a kitchen, so that she was quite comfortable,
and had hot water every morning."

About this time I was appointed a member of a
Departmental Committee which was deputed to en-
quire whether the clerks of the County Courts should
be put on the same footing as to pay and pensions with
the clerks in the Supreme Court in London. At
present they are paid by the Registrars, and can be
discharged by them, having no pension rights. Shortly,
the advantage of this system is said to be that the
Registrar can adapt his staff to his wants, and can
exercise control over their work,which would be impos-
sible if they were nominated by a central authority,
and were Permanent Civil Servants, who could not be
discharged except for gross incompetence. On the
other hand, when a man who is practically in the
Government service has to be discharged for illness,
and falls into want, it creates something of a scandal,
even though he took on his berth originally knowing
that he would not be entitled to a pension ; and there
is constant agitation to get something for him out of
the Treasury.

"March 10. I read in an obscure book a curious
account of a Doctor Kitchener, an epicure who lived
at Brighton in the beginning of this century. On the
card conveying his dinner invitations, which were
greatly sought after, were the words, ' Better never
than late.' He dined at 5. As the clock struck, the
front door was locked, and no matter the rank of the
guest who was shut out it was never opened, as he
maintained that it was a gross injustice to his cook to
delay the time of dishing up by a minute.

" March 21. To Lord Herschell's funeral at West-
minster Abbey. Crowds of people. It was too much
of a function, artists for illustrated papers holding up
blocks, and^drawing during the most solemn parts of

1895-99] WOMEN ON TOWN COUNCILS 319

the service. They played the Trombone Quartette.
There is something sad to me in this triumphant music
at funerals. Poor miserable man whistling in the dark
to comfort himself.

"June 5. To Commons. Mr. Morleywas describing,
with his usual earnestness, the indignities offered to
Cromwell's carcase, when Mr. Dillon suddenly called
out ' Hear, hear.' This produced a laugh, which
destroyed the effect of the oration entirely. Dillon
angry, and tried to explain, but in vain ; the House
continued to laugh.

"June 8. County Court Committee. In order to
show the disagreeables of a process-server's life, with
a view to persuading us to recommend them for
pensions, a collection of the weapons to which they
are exposed was exhibited to the Committee. This
was of a varied character, and consisted of axes, clubs,
pokers, rods, weights, and a large flat-iron, the last-
named having been dropped on a bailiff's head.

"June 26. House of Lords. The question of women
being on the Town Councils was before the House in
the London Local Government Bill. I never saw so
large an attendance of the other sex. Lord Salisbury,
speaking in favour of the women, made a good point,
viz., that they used to be on all the vestries. He was
not so convincing when he went on to say that they
would be admirably adapted to deal with the difficult
question of the housing of the working classes. I
should have thought that in matters of business, such
as the Bill involved, they were not so useful, but that
their real utility was in personal relations.

"Sept. i. Bicycled from Gosford to Lamington,
some fifty-five miles. In the garden were the tomb-
stones of many pet dogs, bearing epitaphs. One of
these was pathetic —

' Ugly she was, and very fat,
But a faithful friend in spite of that.'

"Sept. 23. Read 'The Human Boy.' Excellent
picture of a private school, but I note a curious differ-
ence from the manners and customs of my boyhood.
The boys are all openly in love with the head master's
daughter. That never could have happened at my
school. In the first place, it was not fashionable to be

320 THE BOER WAR [XVII.

in love, and no boy would have ventured to give out
that he was in that state. Secondly, no boy would
have been in love with one of the head master's
daughters, who were thought hideous as a matter of
course, just as all head masters were thought to be
monsters of ugliness and incapacity, whatever their
looks or abilities."

From the first news of the battle of Glencoe, till the
forward movement by Lord Roberts in February
began, was a dark time for all Englishmen. The
succession of disasters with which the campaign
opened produced a feeling of degradation and misery.
I had been brought up in the old belief that England
was never defeated, and though, as I grew older, I
modified this view in theory, it still remained at the
bottom of my mind, and the rude knocks administered
to it by the Boer War were a constant humiliation.
After the worst disasters it was positive pain to meet
anyone, even a friend, as the conversation, however
much one might try to divert it, always got round to
the last reverse, while the indignation aroused by the
veiled exultation of those who were opposed to the
war was almost unbearable. Every morning one
woke with a sense of misfortune which followed one
about all day, only loosing hold now and then for a
few forgetful moments.

" Nov. 5. Heard of a curious plan for restoring the
health of trees. You bore a hole low down in the
trunk, insert a stick of brimstone and cover up with
moss. The sap, when it mounts in the Spring, takes
up the sulphur into the system of the tree. To think
that a vegetable should be able to take a pill is
certainly a wonderful instance of the homogeneity of
Nature.

" Nov. 22. Panshanger. Mr. Chamberlain there,
fresh from Windsor. He said that the German
Emperor had been in great good humour. The

1895-99] ETON REVISITED 321

Empress was not at all what you would expect from
the pictures of her, not the least frumpy, but tall and
distinguished-looking. Her jewels far the best at the
show. I remember Mr. Chamberlain telling us that
the Emperor said that we ought to have 200,000 men
in the Transvaal, and what a preposterous opinion
everyone then thought it was.

"Nov. 23. Landed in rather an awkward place
owing to my having neglected to bring the testi-
monials of a parson absolutely up to date. The man
had been most highly spoken of a short time ago, but
had lapsed in the interval, and his chief supporter had
omitted to inform us of the fact. So he had been
presented to a benefice. The Presentation had to
be withdrawn, and the parson asked to furnish
testimonials up to date, which, of course, he was
unable to do.

"Nov. 24. Heard that my brother-in-law North
Dalrymple had been severely wounded in the battle
of Belmont. He is a most unlucky man. Devoted to
soldiering, he travels 7,000 miles, is knocked over in
the first five minutes of the first action and straight-
way sent home again. Almost the same thing happened
to him in the Soudan.

"Dec. 7. Went to Eton and had tea with Cecil
Dalrymple at Benson's. It was strange, this sudden
peep into one's boyhood again — the whole thing so
like old days, only the room rather more comfortable
and the tea more of a spread. The old rolls survived,
but I noticed that they were not eaten. The dress of the
boys was just the same. The kettles were no longer
boiled in the room, but in the boys' kitchen, an institu-
tion which existed only at Evans' in my time. The
fag brought in the tea-pot and the eggs as of old."

L.L.

CHAPTER XVIII
i goo — 1902

The Queen — Boers and Britons — Hever — A Writ of Dedimus — Lord
Russell of Killowen — Our Soldiers and Colonials — Echoes of the
War — MSS. at Murray's — Death and Funeral of the Queen —
King Edward opens Parliament — Court of Claims — Trial of
Earl Russell — The Yeomanry — Downside — Plymouth — Fishers
Hill — Peace — Illness of the King — The Indian Festivities —
Ockham — Lord Kitchener — The Mysore Mine — Strange Visitors
— Mr. Balfour on Dizzy— Lord Hugh Cecil.

" Jan. 10, 1900. I had to officiate in the swearing-
in of Mr. Justice Buckley, the new Judge. I took
him down to Folkestone, where the Lord Chancellor
was staying;, and administered the oath in a Maple-
decorated sitting-room high over the sea. The next
morning I went down with him to the Courts to the
Lord Chancellor's room, where all the Chancery
Judges were assembled and began chaffing their new
colleague like a lot of schoolboys.

"Feb. 16. The Lord Chancellor now has to write a
letter to the Queen every evening, giving an account
of what has been done in the House of Lords. I am
at a loss to conjecture how it can benefit her Majesty,
as it can only be a bald account, and must take a
considerable time to read for anyone unaccustomed
to Lord H.'s peculiar hand.

"Feb. 1 8. To see my brother-in-law, North
Dalrymple, who returned wounded from South
Africa. In talking of his experiences he described
the wonderful delight of an injection of morphia after
a day's pain in hospital, and how the sufferings of the
wounded before they could be removed from the
field were lightened by it. Contra, many patients in
the hospitals were furious when the injections were
stopped, and declared that the first thing they would
do when they got out would be to resume them.

" Feb. 22. I was standing in the Princes' Chamber

1900-02] THE BOER WAR 323

when a message from Lord Roberts began to develop
itself on the new tape there. It is an exciting
process, as letter by letter is printed off, often with
long pauses between, when all wait in breathless
silence — broken only by the whizzing of the machine.
Gradually a group of Lords gathered round the stand,
getting larger and larger, while we in the inside row
read off the words to those behind us. This telegram
related to the dispersion of the reinforcements coming
to Kronje at Paardeberg and the decision of Roberts
not to attack his position.

" March 2. The excessive outbursts of public
enthusiasm are unlike anything which I remember on
former and greater occasions. I think it is explainable
in this way. The cheap Press and constant flow of
news brings the war so vividly before all classes,
that it is as if they were looking on at a drama.
They feel all the ups and downs in a way which was
impossible in old days. Hence bursts of applause at
any denoument. I fear too that this is partly why the
war is so popular.

" March 3. The Queen in Council to-day handed the
Lord Chancellor a new Great Seal, and told him that
he might keep the old one, which was the third made
of like design since the beginning of her reign and is
supposed to be worn out. The design of the new one is
better than that of the old ones, but not specially good.

" March 9. Went out to the corner of Parliament
Street to see the Queen go by. She looked better
than I expected, more erect than when I last saw her,
and she was bowing vigorously. She had on a big
pair of goggles. The crowd were five or six deep, all
respectably-dressed folk, no really poor. The cheering
not noisy, but pretty general.

"May 18. Dined in Buckingham Gate. After
dinner we heard a great noise in the streets, strains
of bands, banging of drums, tootling of horns. We
went out and made our way to Pall Mall. It was a
curious scene. Hundreds of people waving flags,
flags fastened on to the rails of omnibuses and the
heads of horses. Troops of youths with banners
were hurrahing and yelling for Baden-Powell. On
the steps of the Naval and Military a crowd of
members were standing and singing ' God Save the

Y 2

324 HEVER [XVIII.

Queen/ surrounded by a forest of flags. All this
was based on a Reuter telegram that Mafeking had
been relieved.

"June i. Mrs. L. showed me a translation of
Villebois de Mareuil's journal, which her husband
had sent her from the war. It did not give one an
exalted idea of the Boers, still less of us, who were
beaten by them. Everything seemed in confusion
with them as with us, and panics and scares equally
prevailing. De Mareuil could never get any stores
or horses for his ' Foreign Legion,' and when he did
they were annexed by the native Boers. His own
men would not submit to discipline, could not ride,
and were easily alarmed. Their scouting seems to
have been as bad as ours. Altogether it is depressing
to think that such a lot should have given us any
trouble at all.

" June 6. Wildernesse. Henry Gordon and I went
over on bicycles to Hever, to pay Guy Sebright a
visit. We were shown over the house, which is a
beautiful old timbered manor of Tudor times, and
was the home of Anne Boleyn. The Sebrights have
now taken it, and restored it with great skill. All
round the house is a clear moat, crossed by a bridge
under a fine gateway with a double portcullis.
While we were standing on the edge of the water a
large dog belonging to Sebright jumped in, and,
being unable to get up the steep sides, was in danger
of drowning. Guy jumped in after him, but got out
of his depth, so we had to hold him up, while he held
up the dog. It was very painful and difficult work to
keep him with the dog in his arms above water, as
our hands were crushed against the brick coping.
We shouted for help. Mrs. Sebright rushed off and,
after a few moments which seemed an age, got some
workmen, who succeeded in hauling out Sebright and
the dog.

"June 21. As an instance of the variety of the
duties in an amalgamated office, I had this morning
to go with the Mayor of Wolverhampton to the house
of the Recorder in Eaton Square, and there administer
to him the oath of office under a dedimus. A dedimus
is a writ of the King's which gives one or more
persons power to administer an oath. The Recorder

1900-02] LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN 325

had just been appointed, and until sworn in was
incapable of appointing a deputy. As he was laid up
with a bad leg, the oath had to go to him instead of
his coming to the oath in the usual way.

"July 15. Bearwood. Benjamin Constant, the
French artist, gave vent to some curious opinions.
He thinks the Houses of Parliament the finest thing
in London, next the cupola of St. Paul's, then
Waterloo Bridge ; but the first-named is ' the most
original of them all.'

" Oct. 24. In Court the Lord Chancellor and the
Attorney-General spoke on the late Lord Chief
Justice (Lord Russell). I was surprised at the
emotion shown by the Chancellor, also by his saying
that Russell inspired love. To those who only knew
him casually he was a strong, overbearing man, with
the instincts of a despot. I do not think I ever met a
man with such an eye. You had to screw yourself
up to resist his glance, and I have seen him terrify a
witness by one look. He was also one of the few
advocates whom I have heard completely smash up a
witness on cross-examination in such a way as
virtually to win the case by that one act. He had
some fine qualities, a thorough genuineness, and a
force and individuality which is rare now-a-days. I
heard that when he was dying they sent to him a
young priest instead of the Bishop, who was absent
A.S he was leaving the room, Russell called to him in
his peremptory way, ' Come back, young man.'
The priest did so. When he came to the bedside
the Chief Justice said, ' Lay your hands on the head
of a sinner, and give him your blessing.'

11 Nov. 20. Dined at G's. There was an officer
there just back from South Africa. He brought some
' biltong,' which we ate. It tasted like buffalo tongue.
He also showed us a Boer Bible he had got in the
Transvaal, a big tome bound in brown leather, very
worn and dirty.

" He told us that he had never seen anything like
cowardice, and that in the early part of the war, at
any rate, the men behaved with great forbearance to
the Boers. He had a waggon, drawn by eighteen
oxen, and five or six Cape carts for himself and staff,
with a tente d'abri to sleep in every night. The men

326 ECHOES OF THE WAR [XVIII.

usually had jam twice a week. Our horse artillery
i2-pounder gun was outranged by the Boers, but our
field-gun was as good as theirs. The pompoms
killed fewer people than was expected, but their moral
effect was great.

" Dec. 5. We have had some of the Colonial soldiers
visiting us at the House of Lords. Yesterday there
were three Australians belonging to Kitchener's
irregular horse ; fine-looking, well-made men. I
talked to them, and showed them round. To-day a
large body of Canadian troops came to the House of
Lords, and sat in the members' seats, while they were
addressed by Lord Lansdowne. An unwonted sight
to see the house filled with soldiers in great-coats.
They were decidedly like English Tommies, not a
high type of face, but good, sturdy bodies. Some of
the officers were bigger and more intelligent-looking,
but none as smart as the Australians yesterday.

"Dec. 8. Several interesting talks with L., who is
just back from a command in South Africa. The
effect of these may be given as follows : (i) There
was a good deal of jealousy between officers, and of
incompetence in senior officers holding minor positions,
such as generals of division and colonels. This is
probably due to promotion by seniority. (2) There
was a great difference between regiments. With the
majority, or specially with the crack ones like the
Highlanders, the Devons, the Household Cavalry,
you could do anything. Others were of an inferior
type. The artillery showed especial bravery. They
often fought their guns in the open, exposed to heavy
fire, with the greatest coolness. The surrenders were
quite inexplicable. When Botha sent to one of our
generals and said that if farms were burnt he would
shoot his prisoners, the general is said to have
answered ' that he wished to God he would.'
(3) The commissariat and clothing arrangements
were excellent. No red tape. If clothes or boots
were wanted, you sent at once to a store, and what
was required was supplied. For four or five days
after Paardeberg no rations were issued. Everyone
lived on what he could get. In ordinary times three
or four biscuits were issued, meat not unfrequently,
tea, coffee and sugar always. The men often got

1900-02] MSS. AT MURRAY'S 327

rum. The officers had a few stores of their own,
and generally whisky and water was procurable from
these.

" Dec. 22. E. M. came back from the war. There
had been no call for him to volunteer, but he went out
with his Yeomanry, as so many did, from patriotic
motives. It was a cold, dark evening. Two torches
were fixed on the Church tower, which made the top
seem as if hung in the sky. Below there was a crowd
of boys and children, swinging tins of naphtha at the
ends of sticks, the light from which flickered and
gleamed on the faces of the crowd and the helmets of
the waiting firemen. After a longish wait the carriage
appeared, and the firemen took out the horses and
dragged him through the village. There the carriage
stopped. He was presented with a silver tankard, for
which he thanked the givers, and was then escorted
by about forty of his yeomen up to the house. It has
been good to see how men of the richer class, who
have lived all their lives in ease and luxury, have not
hesitated to give all this up and go out to the war.

" 1901. Jan. 10. Talking to M. at the club, he told
me that he had seen many of the proofs of Byron's
poems at Murray's. Frequently the best passages
were written into the proofs. The third canto of
' Childe Harold ' was mainly on the back of bills and
circulars, while the fourth canto was regularly
written out. The handwriting was execrable. M. also
told me a curious story of how a man dressed as a
parson had palmed off some forged letters of Byron
on Murray, and of Shelley on Moxon. Murray did
not print them at once, but Moxon did, and sent the
proofs to Tennyson, who was much interested, and
read them to Palgrave, who was staying with him.
Suddenly Palgrave said, ' What, Shelley's letters ?
That is from an article of mine.' The imitation of
the handwriting was wonderful.

"Jan. 1 8. The Lord Chancellor came in after the
Cabinet and said that the Queen had had a paralytic
stroke, and it was a question what should be done as
to her signature. I told him that I had read that
George IV. used a stamp during his last illness. On
looking into the matter we found an autograph
signature of George IV. on a Bill of January, 1830,

328 QUEEN VICTORIA'S FUNERAL [XVIII.

In May of the same year we discovered a Royal
Assent to an Act of Parliament signed by a stamped
signature of the King's, and attested by the Duke of
Wellington and Lord Farnborough. During the time
of George II I. 's first illness, when there was no
Regency, and Parliament was not sitting, no warrants
at all seem to have been signed.

"Jan. 25. House of Lords. Great crowds. The
galleries filled with ladies in black, the large feathers
in the hats and the black dresses looking very funereal.
Lord Salisbury spoke on the late Queen. The speech
was pretty good, but nothing wonderful. Lord
Kimberley was much more moving, as he really broke
down when alluding to H.M.'s sympathy. He
must have been thinking of the death of his own
wife. He said that on one occasion he had pressed a
matter on the Queen against her will, and that she
afterwards turned out to be right. Lord Salisbury
also said that he had known this happen on more than
one occasion.

"Feb. 2. I went to see the Queen's funeral from
9, Buckingham Gate. A considerable crowd in the
Gate, but had no difficulty in getting to the house.
Opposite to us, drawn up in the road, were detach-
ments of Lancers and Life Guards, the last very
picturesque in their red cloaks. The crowd was made
up of respectable people, and was quite quiet and
orderly. About 11.20 the soldiers began to move.
The Life Guards were succeeded by a battery of
Horse Artillery, their guns painted with the hideous
khaki colour in vogue since the war. Shortly after-
wards the coffin appeared on a gun-carriage, also
khaki coloured. The pall was not good. It was
white, with the Royal arms embroidered on it, but of
a small and poor design. The Union Jack was folded
over it. Behind the coffin came the King. He looked
well in his long great-coat, and more of a personage
than the German Emperor, whom the English Field
Marshal's uniform did not suit as well as his own
helmet and cuirass. After them came a long line of
dignitaries. As the coffin passed, the standards of an
infantry regiment just opposite to us were lowered
head downwards to the ground, an effective symbolis-
ing of sorrow. The rest of the procession consisted

1900-02] OPENING OF PARLIAMENT 329

of soldiers, sailors, etc., the sailors making a good
show, and there was a body of Irish police in long
grey coats, who were as fine men as I have ever seen.
When all had passed I went to the Abbey, where we
had a longish wait before the service began. Though
a fine spectacle, it was too much of a function for real
solemnity.

"Feb. 4. Saw M., just back from Brussels. He said
there had been a great deal of snow, and that in the
park all the principal sculptors of the town had made
snow-statues, some serious and some comic, but many
of them real works of art.

"Feb. 14. Opening of Parliament. I went up and
stood behind tne strangers' gallery, where we nad a
splendid coup d*oeil. It was not as fine a spectacle as
it might have been ; too crowded and spotty. The
white in the peers' robes spoiled the general effect of
the red, and the mass of ladies in black, though
individually they looked well, was gloomy. The pro-
cession on the King's entrance was marred by having
to crowd through the narrow door, and lost all form.
After reaching the throne, the King read the oath
against Transubstantiation, following the Lord Chan-
cellor. This method did not sound dignified. It
would be better that he should read the oath by
himself. The Chancellor then handed up a blotting-
pad, and gave the King a pen with which he subscribed
his name to a printed copy of the oath, having first
kissed the book. The King dropped the pen, and the
Chancellor had to pick it up. Then H.M. read the
Speech, which he did well in an audible and melodious
voice, without effort, and with some emphasis.
Perhaps the most picturesque feature of the ceremony
was the state coach, which was hung on some fine,
boldly-carved gilded figures. The most comic feature
undoubtedly was the Duke of D., holding the crown
on a cushion in front of him, and looking like a
stalwart gamekeeper who had been brought in to
wait, and was handing round the tea in an awkward
way.

"May 4. B., who is averse to indiscriminate alms-
giving, was accosted by a beggar, whom she tried to
get rid of by saying, ' I never give in the streets.'
' Where do ye give, then ? ' said the beggar, — ' on the

330 TRIAL OF EARL RUSSELL [XVIII.

'ouse-tops ? ' As the Charity Organisation do not
supply repartee, B. went sadly home.

" May 7. I heard of a remark made by an animal
painter, who, pointing to one of his own pictures,
said, ' These rabbits have a deal more nature in them
than you commonly find in rabbits.' This is creative
genius with a vengeance.

"July 17. To the sitting of the Court of Claims at
the Privy Council Office. This is a Court which sits
before a coronation to decide all claims connected
with it. Some of these are of a mediaeval character :
' to hold a canopy over the King,' ' to have the King's
bedclothes of the night before the ceremony,' and the
like.

"July 1 8. Went into the Russell trial. I stood
behind the throne. It was a fine sight; about 130
peers in their robes, and five or six judges on the
Woolsack in front of the Lord Chancellor, who was
Lord High Steward. The Clerk of the Crown pre-
sented the Commission kneeling, and was then ordered
to read it. The Clerk at the table then read the
Certiorari. The peers came into the Court in pro-
cession, the youngest baron leading. By lunch time
the trial was concluded, and the peers retired into
their own House to consider their decision. The
Lord Chancellor then made a speech, which it is said
was so much to the point that it carried all the peers
with it, and there was no voting on the sentence, which
was three months' imprisonment as a first-class mis-
demeanant. Lord Russell came up smiling to the Bar,
looking like a schoolboy summoned for reproof by the
headmaster, but he made a good speech in mitigation.

"July 26. Crossing the Horse Guards' Parade
to-day I passed the giving of medals to the Yeomanry.
There were about 3,000 of them who had gone out to
the war at the beginning. I never saw a more useful-
looking lot of men, not very big, but compact and
strong. They were mostly young, though now and
then one saw a fine, tough-looking man of about forty.

" Sept. 9. Mells. Went on a bicycle to Downside,
an out-of-the-way village where is a large Roman
Catholic abbey, which has been building for thirty-
seven years. The building has been begun, as in olden
days, at both ends, and the finished parts are now

1900-02] PLYMOUTH 331

nearing each other, the intervening space being
covered with a tarpaulin. The architecture is charac-
teristic. The general design is large and pretty good,
but there is a want of taste in the details and ornament,
many of the carvings and reliefs being crowded and
feeble. There is some pretty good glass. I wonder
what the object of erecting this great temple in such a
remote place can be.

" Oct. 10. Talking about the difficulty of supply in
the war, the Secretary for War told us that last
winter Lord Kitchener had asked for 50,000 saddles,
about 4,000 being the usual amount supplied annually.
The War Office said that it was quite impossible to
satisfy the demand. Men were therefore sent off to
Berlin, Paris, Vienna, and the smaller towns in
England and France, and eventually by hook or by
crook 50,000 saddles were sent out.

"Nov. 6. Dinner at A.'s. The Archbishop of
York mentioned that Lord Stanley of Alderley was a
great French scholar, and had written to Bourget
correcting a use by him of the word etiage. After a
time Bourget replied that Renan used the word in the
same way, but that Renan and he were both wrong and
Lord S. was right

"Dec. 6. We got to-day from the Stationery Office
the design of the new Crown, which is to be used in
all decorations and in ornamental documents. It is
what is called a Tudor Crown, which means, roughly,
that it is composed of curved, instead of straight,
outlines.

"March 25, 1902. Mount Edgcumbe. Walked to
the ' Terrace ' which I have mentioned in a former
chapter. Seated there in luxurious peace, one was
nevertheless aware of the stir and hum of the British
Empire in a strange way. The clang of the dockyards
came down the wind, and the smoke of the workshops
streamed across the sky. A big battleship putting
out to sea was visible below us through the pines and
ilexes, and a cruiser under the breakwater was
swinging her compasses with the help of a tug.
Torpedo boats were practising in the harbour, and
jets of steam like geysers arising from the sea when
the torpedoes came to the surface. Under Drake's
Island the training brigs were bending their sails, and

332 PEACE [XVIII.

every few seconds the roar of a gun and the scream of
a shell came from a gunboat practising in Cawsand
Bay. Fumum et opes strepitumque Romce.

" April 24. Debate in the House of Lords on Martial
Law. The Lord Chief Justice made a good speech.
He went back to first principles, and maintained that
martial law was based on necessity, being the will of
the executive acting for the defence of the common-
wealth in times of danger. Whether the Civil Courts
were sitting at the time or not did not matter. He
exposed the fallacy of confounding ' martial ' law with
'military' law, *. 0., the law under which the army is
governed.

"May 21. Fishers Hill. This is a picturesque
house lately built on the high ridge of Hook Heath.
It is like living in a lighthouse, so wide is the horizon.
In an ordinarily situated house a storm merely means
a confused mass of darkness, wind and wet, here it is
an attack by an individual storm whose march you can
watch from the time when it begins to turn the distant
ridges of the fir woods to inky black, to the time when
the coppery lights begin to gleam under its skirts.

"June i. Dined with Paget. X. there, who told me
that when he was a young, struggling man, he had met
with great kindness from Sir James Paget, who had
given him good advice. Once, when he was knocked
up Paget asked him what was the matter. ' Burning
the candle at both ends," said X. ' The only way to
make both ends meet,' answered Sir James.

" We heard that peace had been signed. What a joy !
It is like emerging from a long night of gloom to get
rid of this hateful war.

"June 2. Went into the House of Commons to
hear the conditions of Peace. A strange scene, the
House crowded in all parts. Balfour read the agree-
ment out to the House. Mr. Campbell-Bannerman's
speech not remarkable. Lord Tweedmouth in the
Lords was better. I think everyone was thankful. I
heard no cavilling at the terms. All the lobbies and
galleries crowded with people. In the streets there
was a good deal of ' Mafficking,' tootling on paper
horns, etc. But the crowds were better behaved than
last year. I was not once assaulted with flour, feathers
or squirts.

1900-02] THE INDIAN FESTIVITIES 333

"June 24. House of Lords. About twelve o'clock
I heard that the King was to have an operation
to-morrow and that there would be no Coronation.
We telephoned to Lord Salisbury's secretary. He
had heard nothing. Shortly after he confirmed the
news. Later in the day came the Lord Chancellor
with the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office,
and they discussed a bill for providing for the King's
signature during his illness, consulting the Debates at
the time of the illnesses of George III. in 1788 and
1810. A draft bill was settled, but was not put through
Parliament, as later on in the day it was decided to
have a bill giving the Prince of Wales authority to sign
documents, etc. for the King. When I went out no
one in the streets seemed aware of the catastrophe.

"July 2. Went to the review of the Indian troops
on the parade at Whitehall. I had a capital view
from one of the stands.

" Lord Roberts rode just before the Prince of Wales,
looking straight and tough. A lot of Indian dignitaries
were with the Staff; one splendid old man with a
white beard. The physique of the men and the variety
and gorgeousness of the uniforms made a fine spectacle,
and caused one to wonder how the British shopkeeper
could have reduced to subjection all the tribes and
peoples which they represented. The Ghoorkhas
were the most cheered, ugly, wicked-looking little
demons. At the end the Secretary for War came and
stood out in front of the show, an ordinary mortal in
a black coat, yet master of all these legions.

"July 4. Great soiree at the India Office. I plunged
into the crowd going up the main staircase, and for
long saw nothing but the backs of my fellow creatures.
At last, wandering down to the ground floor, I found
a window opening into the main quadrangle, whence
I had a capital view. In the quadrangle was a lane
lined with Indian soldiers leading to a dais at the far
end, on which were Indian potentates in splendid
raiment, and Court officials. After a time the Prince
of Wales and the Duke of Connaught walked up the
lane and stood upon the dais. Scindia and all the
other chiefs were presented in turn and did obeisance.
Then the officers went up one by one, saluted the
Prince, and held the hilts of their swords to him to

334 OCKHAM [XVIII.

touch. Their imposing physique, fine uniforms and
martial bearing made this a very striking ceremony.

"July 6. Ockham. There is an interesting picture
here of Lady Byron as a child, decidedly pretty. One
of Byron, handsome, but coarse-looking. Wentworth
showed me some photos of Lady Byron as an old
woman, in which there were distinct traces of the
child. The face in these was stern and hard, but full
of character, fine eyes, a long upper lip, and rather
masculine expression. Wentworth says that he has
got many letters of great interest relating to Byron and
his affairs. Among them was one from my grand-
mother, Lady Ravensworth, in which she described
how, walking in the Coliseum at Rome, she and two
of her daughters met ' the Monster.' ' I made the dear
girls cast their eyes down as we passed him,' the letter
continued. Wentworth took a curious view of Lord
Byron, said that his literature was purely accidental,
that he was really a man of action !

11 July 15. Absurd contretemps. After an evening
party, the, on the whole, most beautiful young woman
in society asked if she should give me a lift home. To
drive in an open carriage with such a creature under
the summer stars was a tit-bit of good fortune. But it
was quite marred by my getting hold of another man's
hat by mistake, which was too big for me, and whenever
I felt romantic, came down over my nose, acting
literally and figuratively as an extinguisher.

" August 2. Large party at Wrest. Lord Kitchener
the lion. He has a curious face, something of the bull-
dog and something of the man of intellect, a long
upper lip and huge moustache, which makes his strong
chin look quite small. The whole skull is massive,
and the bones of the brow are singularly prominent,
so much so that in profile the upper part of the
forehead seems to recede, though in full face the brow
is wide. In repose there is rather a rough, heavy
look about him, but his face lightens up strongly when
he smiles, as is often the case with big men. His eyes
are clear and alert, and his figure strong and youthful.
He never held the floor, and did not talk much unless
questioned, when he answered generally from a stock
of platitudes about the war, which he seemed to keep
for fashionable consumption.

1900-02] LORD KITCHENER 335

"After dinner I was next the new Prime Minister
(Arthur Balfour) and congratulated him. He was
particularly nice and genial in his way of receiving

my good wishes. I heard him talking to Lord C

about the altered nature of the House of Commons,
how now everyone spoke or wanted to speak, whereas
in former days there were a few protagonists and a
jury of country gentlemen.

"August 3. I had a short talk with Lord Kitchener
on the terrace. He said that the strain of having to
look after 60 columns was very severe. He put Botha
a long way first as a general. De Wet he did not
think as good as his reputation ; he was merely a 'cute
and active small farmer, with the qualities of the
species in excess of his fellows. We talked about his
peerage patent. He said that he should like to have
a cornice or something of the kind on the top of his
shield, upon which could be written the names of his
South African campaigns, by which he should wish
to be remembered. One of his supporters, which
were now camels, was to be a 'wildebeest,' to give
the coat some South African colour. He described
the animal, and added that he had never had a moment
to think of anything like shooting or sport.

" He went on to say how he hated the task, which
was so unsatisfactory, because with all the trouble
and anxiety, you never felt sure that your combinations,
even if successful, would lead to any general result,
and so the end never seemed to be nearer. Owing to
the excellence of the field-telegraph, in spite of the
size of the country he was almost always in touch
with his columns. He is a bad sleeper, and wants
but little. Four hours suffices for him.

" Sept. 25. The Glen. My host told me the story
of the celebrated Mysore mine. He was a director of
' Nobel's.' They had an agent going about India to
push the sale of dynamite for blasting. This man
told them that concessions had lately been made to a
band of Englishmen by the Mysore Government of a
tract abounding in auriferous quartz. The agent
advised Nobel's to buy. The directors found that
they had not power to buy, so my host and a friend
put down ;£io,ooo; each bought a tract at a venture
and formed a company. They put the mining into the

336 STRANGE VISITORS [XVIII.

hands of a firm of engineers. Things went badly, and
at last six shafts had been sunk, and all the capital
on the shares but 25. 6d. had been called up. The
directors declined to go on, and all except my host
and his friend left the board room. The mining engi-
neers thought they had not gone deep enough. My
host and his friend decided to call up the half-crowns,
to shut up five shafts and sink one deeper. In six
weeks they had got down another two hundred feet
and had come on rich auriferous quartz.

" Oct. 29. House of Lords. Three cards left here
to-day for the Chancellor — ' Louis Botha/ ' C. de Wet/
4 Delarey/ Fancy if it had been prophesied a year
ago that these cards would be on our table ! Botha's
had ' Transvaal ' on it — a widish address. De Wet's
was a large card like a lady's.

"Nov. ii. House of Commons. Heard Arthur
Balfour move the resolution for the closure of the
Education Bill by compartments; not an inspiring
subject, but he treated it with such vigour and lucidity,
upon the broad ground that Parliament as a legislative
machine must not be nullified by mere debate, that
the speech was not only to the point, but interesting.
It was a speech which I should think might have
turned a vote.

"Nov. 28. To the funeral service for Cuthbert
Medd in Sloane Street Church. Cosmo Lang, the
Bishop of Stepney, gave a short address after the
service. He said, in effect, that 'length of life' was
not the standard by which to measure life's value, but
'fullness of life; that Medd was taken when every-
thing that made up life was at its fullest, before
activity and anticipation had become disappointment
and indifference. That the Power who had created
this life so full of energy might be trusted not to waste
these energies which He had made.' The Bishop had
a difficult task, simply standing on the floor of the
aisle addressing a small gathering, but he did it well.

"Dec. 8. Dinner at the L . Prime Minister,

Cranborne, Percy, the Herbert Gladstones, and Mr.
Solomon, the A.-G. of the Transvaal. Good talk, as
may be supposed. Mr. Solomon thought highly of
Lord Kitchener, rather as a ' big ' man than a man of
exceptional brains, and as one who knows his own

1900-02] MR. BALFOUR ON DIZZY. 337

mind, and is not afraid to act on it. He is not a cruel
man or hard, but may behave as such to hide his
softer side. He constantly commuted death sentences.
In one case in particular there was little evidence on
which to commute, but Lord Kitchener was so moved
by a letter from the convict's father, that he went
through the papers himself and then commuted.

" Miss Solomon told me that on seeing a regiment
on the march in South Africa, what struck her was
the enormous tail of waggons, etc. You would see a
regiment march into Pretoria apparently hopelessly
ragged and dirty, the next day they were as smart as
possible.

"Arthur Balfoursaid that he had lately read ' Lothair,'
and was much taken with it. It was a ' phantas-
magoria,' but always with something true to life at
the bottom of its extravagancies. He had heard
several speeches of Dizzy's after he was in the House
of Commons, always dull .and pompous, with one
or two good epigrams in them, which made listeners
say 'What a wonderful man ! ' forgetting the dull parts.

"Dec. 16. House of Commons. Kenyon-Slaney,
the man of the moment, speaking on the Lords'
amendment to the 'Kenyon-Slaney' clause. He
spoke sensibly, and with good delivery. Lord Hugh
Cecil occasionally interrupting, and making curious
movements with his fingers. This motion with the
fingers is hereditary. I once met Lord Salisbury in
the Green Park at a period when his family made him
take a walk after breakfast for the good of his health.
I saw him suddenly stop and stand for a long time
absorbed in thought, twiddling the fingers of both
hands."

L.L.

CHAPTER XIX
1903 — 1906

Sale of Pearls — Preferential Tariffs — Revival of the Past — Accession
and Death of Lord Ravensworth — Narrative and Notes — The
Rescue of the Gaddies — The Defence Committee — Report
on the Japanese War — Sir F. Younghusband — North-East
Norfolk — Aureoles— Dr. Jameson— Beginnings of Tariff Reform
— Mr. Chamberlain — Sir F. Bridge — The New Lord Chancellor
— Tring — Sir James Reid — Secular Education — Finis.

"Jan. 5, 1903. Reading ' Anna Karenina.' It is in
that class of the works of the imagination which
impress you as if you had opened a window and
looked out into life. Parts of Charlotte Bronte' and
Thackeray have the same effect. Scott never. His
books are always ' stories/ though of the first order,
and in Dickens you are always aware of the writer.

"Feb. In this month I had a commission entrusted
to me which caused me a good deal of anxiety. It
consisted in selling some pearls belonging to my aunt,
Lady Bloomfield. As they were said to be of some
value, and I did not know one pearl from another, and
was, moreover, of unbusinesslike temperament, I
started on the job with many misgivings.

" My first step was to unearth the pearls from
the vaults of Coutts', where they had been deposited
for many years, and very dingy-looking articles
they appeared. Then I went to a leading jeweller's,
where I was received in a patronising way by a mag-
nificent person, who informed me that the charge for
valuing was one per cent. As I had a kind of shamed-
faced feeling, as if I was pawning a coat, I thought I
would not trouble this potentate any further.

" The next day I tried Collingwood's, who used to
be the family jewellers. They were less alarming,
and said they would look at the pearls without any
question of formal valuation. I told him that I would
communicate with him, and then became a prey to
horrid doubts as to how far I should be justified in

1903-06] SALE OF PEARLS 339

letting the case go out of my custody, as I was
convinced that I should be none the wiser if some of
the units, or indeed if the whole necklace, was changed.
At last I determined to risk it, and let them go. Four
days of doubts and fears followed, after which
Collingwood reappeared with the case and pearls,
which he said were worth £2,585. This somewhat
astonished me, and I felt that as the jewels were so
valuable I ought to arrange a second valuation, but I
determined not to let them go away a second time, so
settled for a valuer from Garrard's to come to my
room, where, after about half an hour's work with
calliper, scales, and magnifying glasses, he estimated
the necklace to be worth £2,500. This was satis-
factory, so I agreed with Collingwood, to sell them to
him at the price he had offered. My next difficulty
was when to part with the precious charge. However,
Collingwood was very accommodating, and said that
if I gave a formal acceptance of his offer, he would
call for them when his cheque had been cashed. I
imagined that this would not be till after the weekly
clearing, but, on consulting Coutts, they said if the
cheque was paid in during the morning they would
clear it specially, and let me know the result at four
o'clock. This was done, and I wrote to Collingwood,
who fetched away his purchase the next day, to my
great relief. He told me that he hoped to make
ten per cent, on his bargain, but that if he got an offer
within a short time he would be content with five
per cent. One of the reasons that the pearls were so
valuable was the uniformity of their size; but all
pearls were selling well, and had been rising in price
for some years.

" March 4. Lunched at 10, Downing Street. The
Prime Minister there, it being his breakfast. I
thought that a good many of our countrymen would
despair of the Commonwealth if they saw the P. M.
lunching off tea, though I should greatly like to do it
myself. Perhaps, however, they would have been
cheered by the glass of port he had afterwards.

" March 26. I called to-day on a high Government
official. He sat in a spacious room, surrounded by
huge tomes, bags and boxes. When he had heard
what I had to say, he put the tips of his fingers

Z 2

340 PREFERENTIAL TARIFFS [XIX.

together and demonstrated by irrefragable arguments
that he had 'no power to interfere.' He then sent
for a long list of printed instructions issued by the
department. These were brought by a subordinate.
He marked two of them in blue pencil and handed me
the paper. I thanked him warmly and departed with
the marked print.

" April 22. To-day, bicycling through the county of
Kent, I noticed the improvement which has taken
place in the scarecrow since the days of my youth,
instead of being mere symbols, as they used to be,
sometimes constructed merely with two sticks and a
hat, they have now often a semblance to the complete
figure of a human being. I have noticed, too, a similar
advance in popular art in the wax figures in barbers'
and costume shops. Formerly they were all of the
same type, mere ' barbers' blocks ' ; but now they have
variety of feature and colouring, and are altogether
more artistic and like the human face and form.

"June 15. ' Preferential Tariffs ' before the Lords.
This question has become very fashionable, and the
House was crammed with ladies. Lord Goschen told
me the other day how he suffered from having per-
petually to expound the subject at dinner-parties. It
certainly adds bitterness to life to think that for the
rest of our days we shall have to talk at random on
this most difficult and complicated matter, for the
decision of which the ordinary man possesses no
qualifications. Not being at a dinner-table, Lord
Goschen made an interesting speech, though he talked
a good deal about ' the food of the people,' and called
Chamberlain a 'comet.' 'The Comet' came into the
Lords and listened to the debate. I watched his acute,
self-reliant face, and thought what a contrast it was to
other faces near him, notably to the massive, good-
humoured countenance of Asquith.

" June 27. Oxford. Balliol are entertaining all the
men of my time whom they can get hold of, many of
whom are quartered in college. I found the quad a
curious revival of the past. All the old friends of my
day walking about where they used to walk thirty-five
years ago. Viewed from a little distance, one did not
notice much change in their looks and gait. After
dinner we all went out into the quad while the hall

1903-06] HADLEIGH 341

was being cleared. Coming on old friends not seen
for years in the shadowy light made one feel like
Ulysses in the Elysian Fields.

"July 20. I saw history being made this afternoon ;
Lord Rosebery and Mr. Winston Churchill pacing the
Royal Gallery in close confabulation. The one slight,
bow-legged, restlessly active, with his head thrust
forward, a contrast to the solid, upright shape of the
other.

"August i. Went on bicycle to Binfield, one of our
livings which is falling vacant. A lovely little place.
In the church is a copy of Erasmus' abstract of the
four gospels, which was ordered by Edward VI. to be
kept chained in all the churches. It is on a bracket,
with a few links of the original chain.

"August1/. House of Commons. Debate on the
Motor Bill. Great excitement prevailed, and when-
ever a speaker sat down half a dozen members sprang
to their feet. The fact is that they all think they know
something of the ^subject of the discussion, which is
not often the case. It is like a hymn with an easy
tune being sung in church, in which all the congrega-
tion can join.

"August 23. Went to a place which my sister has
taken near Hadleigh, in Essex. Hadleigh is a delight-
fully remote, old-fashioned burgh, with its little
archaic industries of string and mat making and its
modern manufactory of ' corsets.' On the edge of the
churchyard is a beautiful old gateway to the Deanery
of Tudor brick, with twisted chimneys. The Dean is
the 'Dean of Bocking,' who is a curiosity, being a Dean
without any Chapter, and not appointed by the Crown,
but by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There are two
Deans of Bocking. One lives at the place of the same
name, the other at Hadleigh. There is also a Dean of
Battle, in Sussex, who is of the same species, and, I
believe, one other at some place in Cornwall. The
office carries no income, but seems to have been
established in old times, when travelling was difficult,
in order that the Deans might act as Commissaries for
the Archbishop in various parts of his diocese.

"Nov. 9. Heard of Lord Rowton's death, whom I
had known from my boyhood He was a most likeable
person, never distant or chilly to the smallest people,

342 RAVENSWORTH AGAIN [XIX.

though he had a great position in society from having
been so long Lord Beaconsfield's private secretary.
He was a curious mixture, being the best hand at a
small tea party I ever heard, from his wonderful flow
of light talk ; yet, after being considered a butterfly
for many years, he organised the ' Rowton Buildings,' a
philanthropic enterprise which has been, I believe, a
great success. It was of Rowton, when Disraeli on
leaving office made him a peer, that Lowe said ' There
has been nothing like it since Caligula made his horse
a consul.'

" Dec. 2. An appeal from the Benchers of Gray's
Inn, who had refused to call a woman to the Bar.
Heard in the fresco-room at the House of Lords. The
appellant, an average-looking young person, addressed
the Court. Her argument was that there was nothing
in the nature of things to prevent a woman being
called to the Bar. She was not clever or cheeky, but
rather pathetically weaker than her task. The Lord
Chancellor, when she had finished, said that her con-
tention would not be sufficient to found a right, and
she retired rather awkwardly, asking ' if they really
meant it.' "

At the end of December this year I went to Ravens-
worth, of which there has been mention in the earlier
chapters of this book. I had not visited it for fifteen
years, and now found my cousin Atholl Liddell and
his wife, who were among my oldest and best friends,
reigning in succession to his eldest brother. The place
had never quite lost to me the glamour and attraction
which it had for my boyhood, and I was thoroughly
happy at returning to my old haunts with such con-
genial hosts, the more so because, my cousin being not
in the best of health, I had the management of the
shooting, and so tasted for the only time in my life the
joy of being a landed proprietor. When I took my
departure I looked forward to many happy sojournings
there in years to come, but fate willed it otherwise.

1903-06] JULIAN STURGIS'S FUNERAL 343

"Jan. 14, 1904. Drafting in the Crown Office a
patent conferring the powers of the old War Office
officials upon the new Army Council. The old game,
changing the form but not the substance. It is probably
an attempt to copy the Board of Admiralty."

On February 2nd, the very morning on which
he was to take his seat in the House of Lords, my
cousin and old friend, Atholl Ravensworth, had a
stroke. In a few days he died, and was buried at
Whittingham. I was filled with sorrow at the loss,
and at this sudden ending of the hopes I had formed
of many happy times at Ravensworth and Eslington,
and seeing my dear old friends at last come into their
inheritance.

"April 13. Travellers. Arthur Balfour came and sat
next me in the library after dinner. When greetings
had been interchanged I did not say another word to
him all the evening, as I thought he would much rather
be quiet. This was altruism !

" I went to Julian Sturgis's funeral in the church-
yard of the chapel which Mr. and Mrs. Watts have
built at Compton, in Surrey. The chapel is decorated
on every square inch with curious designs, and the
mind is drenched in symbols. It is sad to live in a
time when simplicity in religion is impossible. Either
mysticism or nothing. This was the first burial I had
attended where the body had been cremated. So
strong is habit that one could not help feeling some-
thing uncanny and almost shocking in seeing the small
urn borne to the grave in a little oak casket. But it
gets rid of a very disagreeable part of the ceremony.
I was glad that it was such a glorious spring after-
noon, all things full of life, hope, and beauty.

" April 25. House of Lords. A curious entangle-
ment. Lord Henniker got hold of his father's writ,
which had been issued in 1890 and remained among
the writs, never haying been taken up by the late lord.
The new lord took it into the House, presented it at
the table, was sworn, and afterwards sat and voted,
the mistake not being found out for some days.

344 MIRACLE v. PARABLE [XIX.

" May 6. Betteshanger. I have a bedroom which
contains twenty-four pictures of Mr. Gladstone, one
of Pitt, two of Mrs. Gladstone, and one of Hawarden
Castle.

"May 14. Oxford. Ambarum dinner. Sat next to
Herbert Fisher, who told me of the courteous atten-
tion shown him by the French Foreign Office when
once he had got a permit to search their archives for
his book on Napoleon. Our Foreign Office was more
secretive, because in the French war many members of
noble families had acted as spies for us, and it was not
desirable that their names should come out.

"June 4. Rather a quaint correspondence with a
clergyman. He applied for a benefice, comparing
himself in his pursuit of livings to the paralytic in
the ' parable of the pool of Siloam,' whom no man
would help by taking him down to the pool, so that
others stepped down before him. In my answer I
said that I thought the ' pool of Siloam ' had been a
' miracle ' rather than a ' parable.' He wrote back a
long letter headed 'Re Pool of Siloam/ in which he
explained that 'a miracle, being a parable in action,
the " pool of Siloam " was a parable as well as a
miracle.'

"June 21. House of Lords. The Scottish kirk case
before the Court. Haldane, K.C., holding forth on
Predestination and Free-will in a way which reminded
me of a lecture of T. H. Green. I thought he was
interesting, but the law-lords (with the exception of
the Chancellor) seemed horrified at the suspicion of
metaphysics, and kept saying that they did not under-
stand him. It was more difficult to understand what
was the relation of these questions to the suit.

"June 28. There is a Welsh living vacant worth
,£400 a year, a very unusual stipend for a benefice in
the Principality. Though Welsh benefices are mostly
very poor, we have less trouble with them financially
than with the English benefices. Cases of default in
payment of dilapidations are comparatively rare in
Wales. This is creditable to the Welsh clergy, but
probably arises in part from their standard of living
being lower than that of the English, as the clergy
themselves come from a somewhat lower social
stratum. Also in many of the large English country

I9Q3-6] THE RESCUE OF THE CADDIES 345

villages there is much more society, and the parson
and his family have to keep up appearances and
entertain more than in a remote Welsh region.

"July 6. To Watts' funeral service at St. Paul's.
A considerable crowd at the doors. A comely female,
her face breathing every virtue, was in hot discussion
with the verger as I went in. She could not be made
to see that there was any difference between the north
and south door, or that it mattered her going in at the
north door when she had a ticket for the south door.
This incapacity to appreciate order and orientation is
characteristic of the sex. It was a dark day, and the
cavernous gloom of the great building, enhanced by
rare lights, was suitable and impressive, as was the
music, except an ' In Memoriam,' which was too
luscious when inserted in a service of the severe
Handelian sort.

" August 23. Deal Castle. A north-east gale. A little
yacht ashore just under the house making a perfect
miniature wreck. The cold grey seas were pouring
over the poor butterfly thing, washing her cushions
and smart fittings out of the cabins, and throwing them
about drenched and dirty. It was quite amazing the
amount of debris which the ocean extracted from her
while she was yet intact as to her outward shell. How-
ever, she did not stand the pounding long, but soon
vanished into fragments.

"SeJ>t. 1 6. We had a sudden plunge to-day into the
realities. The Prime Minister, Alfred Lyttelton, Evan
Charteris and myself were playing golf on the
Kilspindie links just as evening was closing in, when
one of the ladies at Gosford came running across to us
and said that some boys were drowning. We ran
down to the shore, and saw a boat drifting away with
the tide with four boys in her. She was about a
quarter of a mile out, and seemed very low in the
water. Fortunately there was an old boat, used for
the salmon catch, lying on the sand about fifty yards
from the sea. We seized the gunwale — we four, Lord
Wemyss, three stray men, and all the ladies — and
began laboriously to drag it over the sand. It was
terribly hard work getting it along until someone
appeared with some stakes from the nets, which we
used as rollers. We had to go up to our knees in

346 A RHODES SCHOLAR [XIX.

water before the boat floated. Lyttelton, two of the
men, and Charteris took the oars, I steered with
another oar. By this time the boat with the boys in
it had drifted a long way up the Firth. Hardly had
we started when stroke's oar broke. I gave him mine,
and steered as best I could with the broken blade.
After a little time we got to the boat and found her
nearly half full of water. One of the boys was
weeping silently, another howling, and two quite
impassive. When we came alongside they all
scrambled on board without saying a word. After
making a rope fast to the water-logged boat we towed
her in to the shore.

"This event got into the newspapers, and was the
occasion of a good deal of random writing, the one side
lauding the heroism of the Prime Minister, the other
condemning him for not going in the boat, which, as
he could not row, would have been the most senseless
thing he could have done. He told me some time after
that various extracts from foreign papers had been
sent to him, and that the exploit increased according to
the distance of the publication from the scene of the
event, until in a Japanese newspaper it was stated that
he had swum two miles with two boys on his back.

" I got a lot of derisive letters and telegrams, one of
which was to this effect : ' Grace Darling not in it.'

" Oct. 8. Lady L. told us that when her husband
was Acting-Governor of the Transvaal, she had given
the Queen of Swaziland a light blue cloak lined with
scarlet and trimmed with India gold-work, which
had produced a perfect ecstasy in the breast of that
potentate.

" Oct. 30. All Souls. Two of the Rhodes Scholars
at lunch. A German and an American — both very
much 'clothed and in their Oxford minds.' The
German had specially good manners. We were told
that after leaving the ' Gymnasium ' he had gone to
Lausanne, where one day he got a telegram from the
Emperor saying that he was to be a ' Rhodes Scholar,'
and, after getting leave to visit his parents for a few
days, a ' Rhodes Scholar ' he became.

"Nov. 4. The Lord Chancellor inspecting impres-
sions of the new Great Seal in various coloured wax —
yellow, green, red, and khaki — which will be submitted

1903-06] THE DEFENCE COMMITTEE 347

to the King at the next Council. We begged him to
try and get H. M. to choose the red, which will
be a great improvement on the hideous khaki colour
hitherto used. It is a poorly-designed affair, a lot of
trivial detail, which would be bad in any design, but is
worse in a seal, as wax does not reproduce small
detail well.

" Dec. 2. I read in the newspapers of an unexpected
effect of the Welsh Revival in the mining districts.
The miners have stopped swearing, and the pit ponies
cannot be induced to move by the use of ordinary
language, so they cannot get the trucks to the shaft.

"March 8, 1905. Lunched at 10, Downing Street.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Arnold Forster, and some
other members of the Defence Committee came in. Mr.
Arnold Forster said that he was taking officers for the
Guards without regard to their standard of education,
as he was convinced of the uselessness of ordinary
education for military officers. A somewhat persi-
flaginous talk then arose about education, in which
the view was advanced that it was solely for the good
of the parents, who would otherwise have to amuse
their children all day. Sir G. C. said it was for the
purpose of amusing children in the intervals of games.
Mr. Arnold Forster said that he had invented a cart to
carry a shield on the model of a Chinese single-
wheeled cart. It was remarked how odd it was that
this form of cart, which had been in use among the
Chinese for centuries, had never been tried with us
except in the case of the ordinary wheelbarrow, which
threw the whole weight on the pusher. The talk then
went on to the question of Greek in education. The
Prime Minister said that some scientific man had told
him that he had been at a large gathering of learned
men, where no one knew the derivation of aneroid, and
he added ' I will guarantee that no one here knows it.'
I happened to remember how the word was made, and
felt quite proud of myself.

"March 16. Read a curious report from an English
officer in Japan. It was by no means lacking in pro-
fessional knowledge, but was written in a strange,
inflated style, full of tags of philosophy and political
economy and allusions to history. There was an
interesting account of a visit to Port Arthur just after

348 SIR FRANCIS YOUNGHUSBAND [XIX.

the surrender. It bore out the received ideas of the
great losses and great bravery of the Japanese. The
writer saw a place a few yards from the Russian lines
whence a Japanese naval officer had managed to
sketch the position of the Russian ships in the
harbour. His telescope had been shot out of his hand
in the process. Two other officers had been sent
with him to take his place if he were killed. The
writer of the report visited the sunken fleet, but could
not determine how far the ships had been sunk by the
fire of the besiegers or by the Russians themselves.
He was surprised at not finding more traces of damage
done in the naval engagement. The Japanese doctors
said that the state of the hospitals was so bad as to be
in itself a justification for the surrender.

"March 30. Lunch in 10, Downing Street. The
Prime Minister told us that Lord Acton, Mommsen,
Ranke, and some other Professor of equal calibre had
once agreed that Macaulay would rank among the
six greatest historians. He talked of Mr. Gladstone,
and said that though he was intolerant of opinions
differing from his own, it was a mistake to say that
he swallowed unlimited flattery. As a matter of
fact he much disliked flattery.

"May 5. Woodcock Farm. Sir Francis Young-
husband. Had a good deal of talk with him.

" The most critical time his expedition had was
when some hundreds of Thibetans got up under the
wall of the camp at night and tried to rush the Gate
in the morning. They were kept back by two
Ghoorkha sentries till reinforcements arrived.

" He thinks that Russia is more likely to get
eventually to the Persian Gulf than to attack India
through Afghanistan. He also thinks that we ought
to have annexed Thibet, because it would have
given us great facilities for keeping Russian influence
away from India, a policy which we are bound to
follow.

" Shakespeare is much in vogue in India. He is
acted in a translation in which the plays are adapted
to Eastern life. Sir F. had attended some of these
performances, which were crowded. On one occasion
among the spectators was an Indian chief of twelve
years old, who seemed to enjoy the drama greatly.

1903-06] JAPANESE EFFICIENCY 349

He does not fear the yellow peril. Does not think
that Asiatics would ever beat Europeans or Americans.

"June 15. Abbey Leix. Much discourse on Irish
affairs. A scheme of Horace Plunkett's, which had
lately been tried, was mentioned. By the help of a priest
two ladies had been settled in a cottage in a country
village with all the best appliances suitable to such a
menage. They had gradually made friends with the
neighbours, and had asked them to come in and see
how things were done, how the food was cooked, and
the house kept clean. This attempt was said to have had
a good effect in improving the methods of life in the place
and introducing cleanliness, economy and efficiency.

"July 8. Fishers Hill. General Ian Hamilton one
of the party, who had been with the Japanese in the
war. He described how, on arriving at the most
filthy Chinese hut, the Japanese orderlies would
produce a roll of wall-paper and, after cleaning the
place out, would paper the walls and put flowers upon
the table. He considered that the Japanese were, on
the whole, the finest infantry in the world ; but he
had seen them run at times when he thought English
would have stood.

"July 9. Fishers Hill. This story was told on
good authority. At a review the two of the guns
in the turret of a battleship suddenly went off — no
one could make out why. The First Sea Lord was
so uneasy that he visited the ship himself, and had the
crew at their stations and everything in the turret
reconstructed just as they had been when the event
occurred. He found out that one of the men had
slipped from the rolling of the vessel and had fallen
against the side of the turret. He made him do it
again. Nothing happened, and the same result
followed when he repeated the fall with his shoes off,
he having been barefooted at the time of the accident.
The First Lord then asked if the deck of the turret
had been wet on the day of the review. He was told
that this had been the case. A bucket of water was
then sluiced over the deck, and on the man falling
again against the side, the guns all went off. He had
connected the electric circuit which fired the guns.

" August 4. Went to the Courts and sat in Court
of the War Stores Commission, where Lord Milner

350 NORTH-EAST NORFOLK [XIX.

was being examined. He was an excellent witness,
but gesticulated a good deal for an Englishman. I
believe his mother was a foreigner. He said that he
bought up all the waggons, mules and transport that he
could because he was afraid of a ring, but only bought
the food and stores which were immediately wanted.

"August 24. North Creake. There is something
attractive about this N.E. corner of Norfolk. The
great golden fields with bushy hedges look warm and
useful. Amongst them are picturesque bits set in the
commoner ground, ivy-clad ruins, cliffs of yellow
gravel, and pretty old houses and cottages. The
shores of the Wash, which bound the region to the
North, are curious. Where you expect to find the
sea beginning, you come to a stretch of flat marsh a
mile or two wide, intersected with creeks and inlets,
some of which run right up to the land proper and
form tidal harbours for the little hamlets on the coast,
in which you may see a few ricketty boats, or even a
small coasting steamer discharging her cargo at a
miniature wharf. The marsh itself sometimes appears
as Cuyp-like meadows, at others as muddy spaces
overgrown with sea-lavender, and covered by the sea
at high tides. Outside the marsh there is generally a
rampartof sandhills, whence the endless shore stretches
away into an almost invisible sea.

"August 31. Went to Holkham. The house was
chiefly interesting to me as being a typical residence
of a British potentate of the eighteenth century, when
the aristocracy were at the height of their power and
culture. This character was written in the solidity
and strength of the building, in the fine furniture,
pictures and tapestries, in the antiques and objects of
virtu brought together from many lands.

" Mrs. , who is a Christian Scientist, sees

aureoles of colour emanating from the heads of some
persons, not of everyone — brown, blue, and orange —
these colours denoting certain mental or moral
characteristics. Brown, I am told, denotes practical
gifts; blue and orange imaginative and spiritual
endowments. This is a curious revival of the experi-
ence of the monks of Athos, who used to see coloured
light issuing from their stomachs.

" Oct. 2. High Walls. The well-known Dr. Jameson

1903-06] MR. CHAMBERLAIN 351

came. Without there being anything commanding or
heroic about him, he is likeable and pleasant socially,
with the ways and manners of an Englishman. He
gives one the impression of a ready and nimble
man.

" We talked about ' faith-healing.' Dr. J. said that
the will might affect the state of a physical organ, e.g.,
that inflammation might be caused by, so to speak,
mental pressure. That being so, there is a basis for
' faith-healing.' But he added that it was difficult to
separate the effects of so-called ' will ' or ' mind ' from
a morbid condition of the nerve centres.

"Nov. 4. Hagley. A Protection party. Chamber-
lains, Alfred Lytteltons, Leo Maxses, George Peel, etc.

" Mr. Chamberlain is thoroughly unaffected and
natural, and his acute face is full of intelligence and
vivacity. He talks constantly and well, and is always
interesting, though not inspiring or big in any way.
I thought that his prejudices against some persons
made him at times rather hard on those whom he
criticised. He described an interview with Mr. Glad-
stone when he (Mr. C.) had consented to join the
Home Rule Government, and Mr. G. asked him what
he wanted. Chamberlain said ' The Colonies.' Mr. G.
replied : ' What ? A Secretaryship of State ? ' and
intimated that it was promised. Wnat chiefly strikes
him at his fiscal meetings is not the strength of assent
or dissent, but the interest taken in the subject.

" Nov. 6. Mr. Chamberlain said at breakfast that
although the Lord Chancellor might be called a Tory,
he was always ready to reform an abuse. Though he
(Mr. C.) was a Radical and had not changed his
opinions, yet all the time he had been in the Cabinet
with the Lord Chancellor they had never disagreed.
Lord Halsbury was following the steps of Lords
Hardwicke and Mansfield in trying to adapt the law
to the common sense of the community.

" He then spoke of Dr. Gore, the Bishop of Bir-
mingham, who, he said, had the confidence and respect
of the Nonconformists in the most nonconformist city
in England.

"Afterwards, talking of the Colonial Office, he
praised the excellence of the clerks, saying that he
could always rely on the precis of the clerk who first

352 SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE [XIX.

dealt with the papers. But he thought there was too
much correspondence and minuting.

"Nov. 22. C told me that once, calling on

Boehm, the sculptor, he saw four busts of the Prince
Consort. Boehm said that he was ordered to make
them, because since the death of John Brown four
busts of that worthy had been placed in the late
Queen's rooms, where there were already four statues
of the Prince Consort. The John Browns were made
with eyes in the modern fashion, i.e., the pupils hollowed
out. In comparison the Prince Consort's, with the
old style of eye, looked absolutely lifeless, and four
new ones had to be ordered.

" Nov. 23. Dined at Miss S . Sir Frederick Bridge

there, the organist at Westminster, who was full of
Pepys enthusiasm, and interesting on the subject. He
said that the Chapter had lately been classifying their
muniment room, and had come upon many curious
documents, among which were the papers of a Chancery
suit — Swift v. Lemuel Gulliver. The petitioner was
not, of course, Swift himself, but it was clear that the
name of the case must have caught his eye and
remained in his head, as the date of the action was
prior to the appearance of the ' Voyage.'

" Apropos of Pepys, Sir F. B. told us that he had
long disputed with other musicians as to which version
of some song, whose name I forget, was by Pepys.
Sir F. B. upheld one version and was, eventually,
adjudged to be wrong. But one day it occurred to him
that the portrait of Pepys in the National Portrait
Gallery had a scroll of music in its hand, and that as
Pepys was probably proud of his work, he might
have caused the painter to put the real score on this
scroll instead of mere marks. This turned out to be
so, and Sir F. B. found that the version on the scroll
was the one which he had advocated.

"Dec. ii. House of Lords. Lord Halsbury said
good-bye to me. Hardly had he left when R. T. Reid
came. It was strange to see him sitting in the seat of
authority, and my thoughts went back to the first time
I had seen him in the Balliol lecture room, as described
in a former chapter.

"Jan. i, 1906. Drew the warrant for the King's
signature, authorising the affixing of the Great Seal

1903-06] THE MEMBER FOR CAMBRIDGE 353

to the Letters Patent making ' Bob Reid ' Lord
Loreburn. How wonderful is the irony of fate that
he of all men should be driven into a peerage with
all its pomps and vanities ! A smaller man might
have made a fuss, like a Judge did a few years ago
about his knighthood, but Reid accepts it all with
dignity, which silences one's tongue inclined to
mock.

"Jan. 20. Gosford. Arthur Balfour at lunch, in good
spirits in spite of his defeat. He said that politics bid
fair to be extraordinarily interesting. He thought
that the Radicals would pick a quarrel with the
Lords and go to the country on that cry at the next
election. Comparing Mr. Winston Churchill with
his father, A. B. said that the son had a sterner
ambition. Lord Randolph rode looser to his anchors;
he could have been drawn aside by racing, or any
other pursuit he might have fancied. And it should
be remembered that he was only about a year in office,
and never led the House of Commons in a regular
session.

"Jan. 24. S. H. Butcher, who has lately been elected
for Cambridge University, told me what a life the
would-be member leads for some time before the
election. He gets letters from all over the country,
chiefly from parsons, asking him strings of questions
on all kinds of religious and abstract subjects, such
as, ' Will you support the reservation of the Sacra-
ment ? ' One writer asked fourteen questions. These
the candidate has to answer as best he can. B. had
been writing letters for days, and was still a hundred
in arrear.

"Jan. 31. A., in the time of the late Queen, once
went to see Antony and Cleopatra. In one of the
scenes Cleopatra appeared lolling on a throne in
voluptuous fashion and in magnificent garments, sur-
rounded with a gorgeous court, and every description
of luxury and pomp. An old lady seated just in front
of A., remarked to another old lady, ' How very
different from our own dear Queen ! '

" Feb. 4. There are several pieces by Rodin at the
New Gallery. A certain clumsy coarseness in his
work, suggestive of the snow man, displeases, almost
as much as the traces of power and grandeur attract.

L.L. A A

354 TRING [XIX.

The difference between him and his great prototype,
Michael Angelo, is that Rodin entirely lacks ' the
divine/ to borrow Tennyson's aphorism about Dante
and Goethe.

"Feb. 13. Lord Ripon informed the House of Lords
of the appointment and peerage of the Lord Chan-
cellor, wno was then introduced, kneeling before the
throne, laying his patent of peerage upon it, and then
taking it off himself, a curious bit of mumbo-jumbo for
the twentieth century.

"March 17. Tring. Large party. J. Chamberlains,
Arthur Balfour, George Protheros and others."

I can remember only fragments of their talk. Mr.
Chamberlain said that when the Church was disestab-
lished, Wales would become Conservative, though he
didn't think that the Evangelicals and the Noncon-
formists would ever coalesce. A good many of the
clergy, and certainly one Bishop, were in favour of
disestablishment. He thought the Government were
in a difficulty over the Education Bill, as if they con-
ciliated the Nonconformists, which is what they would
try and do, they would turn all the Church and the
Catholics into enemies. In the present state of feeling
secular education was quite impossible, and any
Government which went in for it would be turned out.

Talking to Arthur Balfour about speeches, Mr. Cham-
berlain said that all the best speeches must be prepared,
but that he had advised his son to use rather less
preparation than he himself had been in the habit of
doing. Many of the best orators got their speeches
by heart. Balfour said that no speeches were worth
reading, not even those of Demosthenes, for no one
could make a speech as good as an essay.

" March 27. A party of Japanese sailors going round
the House of Lords. They all look like little boys,
clean and healthy, with bright eyes. Though tough

1903-06] SIR JAMES REID 355

and well covered, they do not seem to be powerfully
built. The officers appeared very intelligent, but not
what we call 'gentlemanlike' to the outward view.
There were one or two Englishmen among the men,
one with light red hair, who was much out of place.
They rolled their bright eyes on all sides, but showed
no signs of astonishment.

" April 9. The Lord Chancellor told me the interest-
ing story of his father. He was a young Scots advo-
cate, and an ardent Reformer in the days of the First
Reform Bill, being Secretary of the Reform Associa-
tion in Scotland. This body had had handbills
Erinted advocating the use of sticks and even weapons
y the inhabitants in conflict with the police and
troops. Reid was strongly against the publication of
these, but was outvoted. Thereupon he said, ' Give
them to me ; they are my business,' and threw them
on the fire, standing in front of it till they were
burned. Sir George Grey heard of this, and when
Reid's health afterwards broke down, offered him a
judgeship at Corfu, where he remained for more than
twenty years, and completed a codification of the law
of the State."

"May 12. Ambarum dinner at Balliol.

" Someone said that the handwriting of the Rhodes
Scholars was worse than that of the ordinary educated
man over here. They seemed quite indifferent to
good writing, and had no idea of it as an art. Calli-
graphy is probably a virtue of the dilettante. Many
men of action have written shocking hands.

"May 17. The House of Lords threw out the Bill
prohibiting the importation of aliens as labourers.
This is the first blood in the fight which must come
between the two Houses.

"May 30. The Lord Chancellor and the ex-Lord
Chancellor played golf at Sudbrook Park. I wonder
what Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham would have
thought of such a performance ?

"June 12. George Farwell sworn in as Lord Justice
by myself before the Lord Chancellor. Curious are the
ways of Fate bringing three old college comrades
together in this way. \ was proud and pleased to be
of the company, even in the subordinate capacity of
Deputy Clerk of the Crown.

A A 2

356 SECULAR EDUCATION [XIX.

"June 25. I appeared as a witness before the
Baronets Committee and got on pretty well, though I
was staggered when a day or two afterwards my
proofs were sent to me, to see what nonsense I had
apparently talked, and what a lack of grammar and
amount of repetition my remarks contained. However,
I consoled myself by putting down some of this to
the reporter.

"June 28. House of Lords. I talked with a Radical
M.P., who was waiting for Neish, asking him if he
was in favour of secular education. He answered
that no party which proposed to do away with the
Bible in the schools would have any chance. Two-
thirds of the working classes never went to any place
of worship, but they mostly wished their children to
have the chance of being taught the Bible, and often
themselves contemplated returning to religion in old
age. He had lately addressed a meeting of between
two and three thousand working men at Manchester,
and the Dissenting Missionary who bossed the show
told him that only about twenty per cent, of his
audience would be in favour of abolishing Bible
teaching.

"June 29. Sixty years old to-day."

INDEX

ABBEY LEIX, 164, 199, 349

Aberdare, Lord, Chairman of
the Reformatory and Industrial
Schools Commission, 199 ; at
Duffryn, 236

Aberdeen, 206 ; inspection of Re-
formatory and Industrial Schools
at, 207

Aberfeldy, 297

Abraham, Wm., M.P., " Mabon,"

237

Aid<§, H., 206

Ajax, performance of, 207

Alarm, the, 13

Aldworth, 315

Alexandra, Queen, her marriage
festivities, 46

Alfred, Prince, 9

Aliens Bill, 355

All Souls' Chapel, 155

Allen v. Flood, 311, 313

Allwards, 219

Alsh, Loch, 224

Ambarum Club, 229, 258

" Anders," 160

Anderson, 66

" Anna," the maid, 161

Antigone, performance of, 315

Appropriation Bill, 259

Archibald, Mr. Justice, Commis-
sioner on Municipal Corpora-
tions, 151

Argyll, Duke of, on the Irish Land
Bill, 249 ; on the Deceased Wife's
Sister Bill, 308

Armadale Bay, 204

Army Council, the new, 343

Arndilly, 195

Arnold, Matthew, 153, his criticisms
on authors, 190; his poem on
the death of the dog Geist, 190

Arnold-Forster, Rt. Hon. H. O., 347

Arrow, the, 13

Arthur, Prince, 39

Arthur's Seat, 165

Ashanti War, 139

Ashburton, Louisa Lady, 205

Ashridge, 298

Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., 239 ; his
style of speaking, 313

Assisi, 1 02

Atkinson, Miss, 230

Auguste, the coachman, 19, 20

Aumale, Due d', 311

Austria, Empress of, her appear-
ance, 113

Ayrton, Rt. Hon. H. S., 287

BALFOUR, Rt. Hon. A. J., at Wilder-
nesse, 213, at an all-night sitting
of Parliament, 248 ; his Crimes
Bill, 249, his speaking, 255 ; on the
Irish Land Bill, 273 ; at Gosford,
275i 353 5 on tne Home Rule
Bill, 295, 296 ; at Loseley, 299 ;
on the death of Mr. Glad-
stone, 314 ; Prime Minister, 335 ;
on the Education Bill, 336 ; his
criticism of " Lothair," 337; at
the Travellers' Club, 343 ; at Kil-
spindie links, 345 ; at Tring, 354

Balliol College, Oxford, 58 ; the
tutors, 59; banquet at, 153

Balston, Dr., of Eton, his appear-
ance, 25, 34 ; contrast with Warre,

35

Barbanera, his method of teaching

Italian, 103
Baronscourt, 240
Barratt, Alfred, his death, 192
Barrington, W., no
Bawdsey, 316
Beach, Sir M. Hicks (Lord St.

Aldwyn), 289
Bearwood, 306, 325
Beckenham, 168
Bees, adventure with, 55
Belfast, 207

Belmont, Battle of, 321
Ben Mac Dhui, ascent of, 125
Ben Nevis, ascent of, 81, 83

358

INDEX

Benefices Bill, 315

Beresford, Lord Charles, 259

Besant, Mrs., her appearance, 162

" Betsey," the dwarf, 9

Betteshanger, 344

Bickersteth, Mr., at Boughrood, 55

Bicycling, rage for, 305

Binfield, 341

Birch, Rev. A. F., 36

Black Prince, 252

Blackie, Prof., 83

"Blackwood," extracts from an

article in, 201

Blake, Mr., indictment against, 294
Blomfield, Bishop, 270
Bloomfield, Lady, 96 ; sale of her

pearls, 338

Bloomfield, Lord, at Vienna, no
Blowitz, M. de, Times correspondent,

306

Boat races, training for, 64
Bodmin, 128, 129
Boehm, Sir J. E., his busts, 352
Boer War, 320 ; peace concluded, 332
Bologna, 105, 107
Bosanquet, Sir F. A., K.C., 131
Boughrood, 50 ; fishing at, 52
Boveney Weir, 51
Bowen, Sir Charles (afterwards

Lord Bowen), his chambers, 132 ;

work on the Tichborne case, 133
Bowood, 316
Boyle, Edmund, 26
Bradfield College, Greek play at, 315
Bradlaugh, H., 248; his appearance,

162

Bradley, Dean, 156
Bradshaw, Henry, 194
Brady, J., member of the Trawling

Commission, 217
Bramham, i, 15, 89, 147, 309
Brampton, Lord. See Hawkins,

Mr. Justice.

Bramwell, Baron, 125 ; his appear-
ance and characteristics, 126
Braunfels, impressions of, 169 —

182 ; society at, 170 — 172 ; sport,

176 — 181 ; dogs, 181
Bridge, Sir Frederick, 352
Bristol, 129
British Association, members at

Escrick, 194
British Museum, 293
Brixham, 223
Broughton, Rhoda, 265
Brown, John, busts of, 352
Brownlow, Earl, 256

Bruce, Mr. Justice Gainsford, 290

Brunswick, 146

Brussels, 305

Bryce, Rt. Hon. J. A., 81

Buccleuch, Duke of, 121, 145

Buckley, Mr. Justice (now Lord

Justice), sworn in, 322
Budget, debate on, 299
Buller, Sir Redvers, 310
Burgon, J. W., 91
Burton, Sir F., 191 ; his stories of

Carlyle, 191

Butcher, Prof. S. H., 353
*' Butler, Carrotty," 32 ; his verses,

36

Butterworth, F. W., 69, 74
Byron, Lady, pictures of, 334
Byron, Lord, story of, 308 ; proofs

of his poems, 327 ; picture, 334

CADDIES, rescue of, 345

Caine, W. S., member of the
Trawling Commission, 217

Cambridge, 258, 299

Cambridge, Duke of, 8

Camden, Lord, 90

Cameron, Mr., 85

Cameron, Mrs., 313 ; her charac-
teristics, 5 ; photography, 84 ;
indomitable resolution, 85 ; hus-
band, 85 ; models, 85 ; at Fresh-
water, 150

Campbell, Lord, 239

Campbell, Mrs. Patrick, 296

Canterbury, Archbishop of, 153

Capel, Monsignor, 95

Caracalla, Baths of, 101

Cardiff, 238

Carlyle, Thomas. 123 ; his appear-
ance, 124 ; stories, 124; stories of,
191

Carrioles, mode of travelling by, 161

Carter, L., 50, 53, 55

Castle Kennedy, ruins of, 188

Castle Menzies, 297

Catapult, introduction of, 31

Cave, Sir Lewis, Chairman of the
Municipal Corporations Com-
mission, 151

Cawsand Bay, 332

Cecil, Lord Hugh, 337

Challenger expedition, 158, 194

Chalvey Stream, 27

Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph,
260 ; at Wilton, 265 ; Panshanger,
298, 320 ; Hagley, 351 ; his char-
acteristics, 351 ; at Tring, 354

INDEX

359

Chambers, Montagu, story of, 223
Chamounix, 56

Chandernagore, jute factory at, 287
Channell, Mr. Baron, 239
Charteris, Hon. Evan, at Kilspindie,

345

Charteris, Hon. Francis, 69, 74, 84 ;
at Rome, 100 ; his attack of
malaria, 103 ; return to London,
115 ; death, 118

" Cheshire Cheese," meetings at, 158

Cheviot Hills, 135, 165

Cheylesmore, Lord, 26

Chillingham, 165

Christiania, 161

Church, Crisis in the, debate on, 317

Churchill, Lord Randolph, 247,
251 ; on the Home Rule Bill,
294 ; compared with his son, 353

Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston, his
appearance, 341 ; compared with
his father, 353

Cinquevalli the juggler, 311

Circuit, the Northern, 146 ; institu-
tion of the Grand Court, 147

Cleasby, Baron, 126

Clerk-Jervoise, Mr., at Rome, 92

Clerkenwell, explosion at, 87

Cleveland Hills, 313

Clifton, 129

Clouds, 250

Cole, Mr., Q.C., 128

Coleman, C.. 144

Coleridge, Arthur, at Dresden, 146

Coleridge, Sir John (afterwards
Lord), 124, 132

Collings, Rt. Hon. Jesse, 239

Commons, House of, explosion in,
229

Conolly, Colonel, in

Consort. H.R.H. Prince, 38, 40,
busts of, 352

Constant, Benjamin, 306, 325

Coomber, 18

Copenhagen, 161

Corpach, 80

Cortina, 267

Cotele, 262

Cotes, Mr., 132

Cotswolds, the, 187

County Courts, Departmental Com-
mittee on the, 318

Cowes, 34, 44, 47, 84

Cowper, Earl, 212, 282, 307 ; his
appearance and characteristics,
212

Craiganour, 292

" Cribs," use of, 30

Cricket at Balliol. 65

Crimean War, 12, 189

Crimes Bill, 249, 252

Cromer, 315

Crompton, C., 143

Cromwell, Oliver, site for his

statue, 301

Crossbow, a Swiss, 41
Crown, design of the new, 331
Crown Office, Chief Clerk in the,

244 ; duties of the, 246
Crystal Palace, antediluvian animals

at, 15
Currie, Mr. (afterwards Sir),

Donald, 224
Currie, Sir Philip, 271
Curtis, Mr., story of, 309
Curzon, Lord, 208 ; Viceroy of

India, 317

DALHOOSIE, i3th Earl of, 85, 211 ;
member of the Trawling Com-
mission, 217

Dalrymple, Cecil, 321

Dalrymple, Col. the Hon. North,
his marriage, 187 ; wounded in
the battle of Belmont, 321, 322

Daniel, M., 33

Darling, Mr. Justice, 143

Dart, the, 129

Davenport, A. Bromley, her
marriage, 204

Davey, Lord, 211

" David and Goliath," verses on,

37

Day, Mr., an Eton master, 37
Day, John, his racing stables, 127
Deal Castle, 345
Deane, Mr. Justice, 64
Death Duties, debate on, 300
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, 308
Dedimus, meaning of the word, 324
Deer, chase of, in Germany,

176
De Grey, Earl (now Marquess of

Ripon), 243
D'Egville, Mr., 117
Denning, Inspector, 229
Derby, Edward Henry, I5th Earl

of, 86, 139
Dereen, 274, 294
Devonshire, Duke of, on the Death

Duties, 300
Dick, the footman, 28
Dilke, Sir Charles, 151
Dillon, Mr., 319

INDEX

Disraeli. Rt. Hon. Benjamin (Earl

of Beaconsfield), criticism of, 271 ;

" Lothair," 337 ; style of his

speeches, 337
Dixon, A. B., his instructions in

conveyancing, 122, 130
" Docker," meaning of the term, 140
Dogger Bank, 219
Dogs, collection of, at Braunfels, 181
Dolomites, the, 267
Donoughmore, Lord, 74
Dorchester, 128
Douaires, 'Colonie P£nitentiaire "

at, 202

Downside, 330
Drake's Island, 261, 331
Drayton, 316
Dresden, 132, 146
Drumlanrig, 121, 145
Dublin, 208
Duffryn, 236
" Dummy," 9
Dunraven, Earl of, 281
Dupuis, G., an Eton master, 34
Durham Assizes, 135, 192, 223
Durnford, " Judy," an Eton master,

49

EAST SHEEN, 3

Edinburgh, 166, 226, 296 ; meeting
of the Trawling Commission at,2 1 7

Edrington, 312

Education Bill, 336, 354 ; secular,
356

Edward VII., King, as a child, 9 ; a
boy at White Lodge, 18 ; his
marriage, 46 ; at the funeral of
Queen Victoria, 328 ; opens Par-
liament, 329 ; illness, 333

Edwards-Moss, Sir John, 46

Egypt, Khedive of, 200

Eil, Loch, 80

Elcho, Lady (afterwards Countess
of Wemyss), 187 ; her appear-
ance, 114 ; characteristics, 115

Elcho, Lord (now Earl of Wemyss),
248; his appearance, 116; ver-
satile gifts, 117

Election, General, 1892, 289

" Eliot, George," her appearance,
156 ; conversation with A. G. C.
Liddell, 156

Elvington, 300

Escrick, 147, 194, 228, 253

Eslington, 135, 145

Eton, 25, 187, 207, 321, custom of
" leaving books " abolished, 49

Eton and Harrow cricket match,

33. 39

Euphrates, 252

Examinatore, history of the, 109

Exeter, 128

FABER, Lord, at Boughrood, 53

Faces, plan of generalising, 194

" Faith-healing," 351

Falbe, Madame de, n

Farringford, 150

Farwell, Lord Justice, 63, 158, 355

Fawcett, Prof., 211

Felixstowe, 231

Female Suffrage, debate on, 310

Fife, coast of, 166

Fiji, 200

Fisher, Herbert, 344

Fishers Hill, 332, 349

Fishing at Boughrood, 52 ; at Gor-
don Castle, 120 ; at Olden, 159 ;
at Stobhall, 145 ; on the Tay, 119

Fitz, his drawing-classes, 153, 167,

183

Fitzgerald, Mr., 50, 53
Florence, 102, 107, 314
Foljambe, C. G. S. (afterwards

Earl of Liverpool), 30
Fort William, 80, 83
Forth, Firth of, 165
Fox, George Lane, 2, 15, 89, 262 ;

his funeral, 309
Fox, G. S. F., Lane-, 94, 95
Fox, Sackville, 262
France, Reformatory and Industrial

Schools system in, 202 — 204
Franco-Prussian War, outbreak of,

118

Freshwater, 84, 150
Frogmore, 38
Fussell, Mr., 132
Fyffe, C. A., 107

GALTON, Sir Francis, 194 ; his plan
of generalising faces, 194

Garry, the, 79

Geneva, 57

Genoa, 92

George, IV., 286; his signature, 327

Germany, Crown Prince of (after-
wards Emperor Frederick), at
Ventnor, 85 ; at the Jubilee, 251

Germany, Emperor William of, his
fishing in Norway, 274 ; in Lon-
don, 282 ; at Windsor, 320 ; at the
funeral of Queen Victoria, 328

INDEX

36i

Germany, Empress of, 321

Gibbs, Mr., 18

Gibson, Mrs., 28

Giggles, attacks of, 77

Gladstone, Henry, his jute factory at
Chandernagore, 287

Gladstone, Rt. Hon.W. E., 22, 164 ;
his appearance, 224, 248, 269, 285 ;
on the Budget, 249 ; style of his
speeches, 255 ; on Irish Adminis-
tration, 260 ; on Royal Grants,
265 ; on his loss of influence, 268 ;
at the Cobhams, 269—273, 285 —
288 ; his criticism of Disraeli, 271 ;
on the Osborne trial, 286 ; his
view of Ayrton, 287 ; on being kept
awake, 288 ; takes the Oath, 294 ;
on the Home Rule Bill, 296; retire-
ment, 298; death, 314; funeral,
314; his dislike of flattery, 348

Gladstone, Mrs., 22, 273

Glamis ghost, account of the, 193

Glen, the, 226, 242, 252, 335

Glen Affaric, 195, 205, 214

Glen Lyon, 76

Glencoe, battle of, 320

Gloucester, Duchess of, 8, 18

Godley, Sir Arthur (now Lord Kil-
bracken), 74, 158 ; at Patterdale, 74

Goodford, Dr., 42

Goodford (son of Dr. G.), 50, 53

Gordon Castle, 119

Gordon, Henry, 324

Gore, Dr., Bishop of Birmingham,

351

Gorst, Sir John, on the Appropria-
tion Bill, 259

Goschen, ist Viscount, 230, 260 ; his
speech on " Preferential " Tariffs,

340

Gosford, 165, 209, 222, 233, 243, 275,
281, 305, 312, 319, 353

Graham, Miss, 163, 168

Graham, Rutherford, 76; character-
istics, 79

Graham, William, 79, 119, 145, 162,
164, 195, 224 ; his looks and
qualities, 79

Grant, Sir A., 78

Grant, Canon, 54

Granville, 2nd Earl, his stories, 242

Greek plays, performance of, 186,

315

Green, T. H. , 59 ; his characteristics,
62, 82 ; lectures on philosophy, 72 ;
at Corpach, 80 ; his appearance,
82 ; reverence for law and order, 82

Greenhow, W. T., 137
Greenwood, Mr., 52
Griffits, J. O., 131
Griraaldi the clown, story of, 308
Grimsby, 219
Grisedale, 66

Grove, Gen. Sir Coleridge, 130, 131
Grove, Mr. Justice, his character-
istics, 130
Guisachan, 195
Gunning, Mrs., 109
Gurney, Edmund, 194

HADEN, Seymour, 199

Hadleigh, 341

Hagley, 300, 351

Haldane, Rt. Hon. R. B., 344

Hall, Charles, 134

Halsbury, Earl of, 352 ; his work as
Lord Chancellor, 276 ; ecclesias-
tical patronage, 278 — 281 ; at
Sudbrook Park, 355

" Halsten," 160

Ham Common, fire on, 167

Hamilton, Frederick, 241

Hamilton, General Sir Ian, 349

Hamilton, Lord George, 240, 277

Hamilton, Lady George, launches
the Sanspareil, 250

Hammersmith, 210

Hamoaze, 261, 262

Hamond, T. A., 26

Hampton Court, 15

Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Sir W., 214, 230,
294, 314 ; his resignation, 303

Hardie, Keir, 291

Hardwicke Debating Society, 184

Hardwicke Earl of, 13 ; his peculiari-
ties, 14 ; method of paying his
keeper, 88 ; novel pig-stye, 89

Hardy, Alfred, 144

" Harling," meaning of the term, 119

Harte, Bret, 251

Hawkins, Mr. Justice (afterwards
Lord Brampton), 211 ; case tried
before, 186 ; at Newcastle, 222

Hawley, 299

Hawtrey, John, 40

Hay, 50

Headford, 274

Healey, Timothy, K.C., 208

Heathcote, 26

Hecker, Father, 95

Helena, H.R.H. Princess, 47

Henniker, Lord, 343

362

INDEX

Heralds' College, 250

Herschell, Lord, 139, 312 ; Lord
Chancellor, 291 ; his funeral, 318

Hever, 324

Hewell, 300

Hichens, Andrew, 264

" High Price," the horse, 89

High-Walls, 350

Hillingdon, Lord, 90

Hoare, Charles, 43

Hoare, Walter, 26, 33

Hoare, William, 43

Holkham, 350

Holland, Harry, at Chamounix, 56

Holland House, 158

Holly Grove, 142

Holmes, Judge, 265

Home Rule Bill, 294, 296

Hook Heath, 332

Hope, Sir Edward, 165

Hope, Mrs., 165

Hornby Castle. 313

Howell,Mr., M.P., 248

Huddleston, Baron, 131, 143

Huxley, Prof., 189 ; member of the
Trawling Commission, 217 ; table-
talk, 223

INDIAN TROOPS, review of, 333

Innerleithen, 312

Innspriick, 268

Inverinate, 224, 226

Ipswich election petition, result
of the enquiry, 239

Ireland, impressions of, 164 ; Re-
formatory and Industrial Schools,
commission in, 207 — 209

Isle of Wight, 12, 15, 150

Italy, 305 ; ticket-taking in, 103 ;
form of religion in, 109

JAMES, C. C., 30

James, Sir Henry (now Lord James

of Hereford), 131 ; Attorney-
General, 196
Jameson, Dr., 350
Japanese sailors, characteristics of,

354 ; War, report on, 347
Jersey, Earl of, illness, 39 ;

Governor of New South Wales,

158
Johnson, Rev. W., an Eton master,

his method of teaching, 45 ;

illness, 45; "lonica," 46

Jowett, Prof., 54 ; senior tutor of
Balliol College, 59 ; his charac-
teristics, 60, 8 1 ; Plato and
Divinity lectures, 72 ; writing
essays for, 73 ; at Tummel Brig,
75 ; method of teaching, 76 ; on
the Schliemann discoveries, 156 ;
at Gosford, 275

Jubilee, celebration of the, 251

"Jumping," at Eton, 26

Jura, the, 56

KARSLAKE, Sir John, one of the
Municipal Corporations Com-
missioners, 151 ; deterioration of
his health, 183

Kean, Mr. and Mrs. C., 19

" Kempton Park " case, 314

Kenealy, Dr., 131, 154

Kenmare, Lord, 256

Kensington, South, 150, 154

Kent, H.R.H. Duchess of, 38

Kenyon-Slaney, Colonel, M.P., his
" clause," 337

Kilkenny, 208

Killarney, 256, 257

Kilspindie golf links, 345

Kimberley, ist Earl of, on the
death of Queen Victoria, 328

Kingussie, 80

Kirby, 167

Kirtlington, ball at, 75

Kitchener, Dr., his invitations to
dinner, 318

Kitchener, Field-Marshal Viscount,
his demand for saddles, 331 ;
appearance, 334 ; on the strain of
the war in South Africa, 335 ;
characteristics, 337

Knole, 266

Knowsley, 139

Knutsford, Viscount, 56

Kohinoor, the schooner, 44

Kretchmer, Fraulein, 132, 146

LABORDE, M. and Mme., n
Labouchere, H., on Royal Grants,

264 ; his opposition to female

suffrage, 310
Lahn, valley of the, 169
Laing, F. (now Wolryche-Whit-

more), 30

" Lambo," the dog, 179
Lamington, 319
Lancaster, Henry, 78
Land Bill, Irish, 249, 273 ; in

Committee, 308

INDEX

363

Lane-Fox, F. S. ; his career, 94 ;
power of fluent speech, 95. See
Fox.

Lang, Andrew, 224 ; his facility in
writing, 70

Lang, Cosmo, Bishop of Stepney
(Archbishop of York), his address
at the funeral of C. Medd, 336

Lascelles, Mrs. F., her illness and
death, 277

Lawley, B. See Wenlock, Lord, 147

Lawley, Constance, Hon. Mrs. (Lady
Wenlock), her characteristics and
appearance, 148 ; gift for drawing,
148 ; utilitarian views, 149

Le Marchant, J. G., 26

Lee, Philip, 81

Leeds, 214 ; Assizes, 210

Leeds, Duke of, 262

Lefevre, Miss Shaw, 211

Legard, Captain, 44, 84

Legros, his studio, 162 ; his shooting
and fishing, 163

Leonardo, his " Cenacola," 108

Lesseps, Comte de, 200

Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. George, 156

Liddell, A. G. C., his birth and
parents, i ; at East Sheen, 3 ;
neighbours, 4 — 6 ; childhood,
6 — 16; pastimes, 6 — 8, 26, 51, 64,
69 ; lessons in riding, 7, 70 ; at
Ravensworth, 8, 22, 87, 138,
166. 189, 342 ; his grand -parents,
9 ; at Trouville, 10 ; Ryde, 12 ;
characteristics, 16, 53 ; at Temple
Grove, 17; White Lodge, 18 ;
Paris, 19 ; lessons in the art of
gunnery, 23 ; at Eton, 25, 321 ;
his friends, 26, 29, 115 ; lessons,
30 ; joins the Rifle Corps, 33 ;
at Cowes, 34, 44, 47, 84 ; his
verses, 37, 43, 45 ; at a children's
party at Frogmore, 38 ; receives
a swishing, 42 ; his tortoises, 42 ;
at Staplehurst, 43 ; fags, 46 ;
confirmation, 48 ; at Boughrood,
50; fishing, 51, 119, 159; death
of his brother, 51 ; taken up
for poaching, 53 ; matriculates,
54 ; adventure with bees, 55 ;
tour in Switzerland, 56; at
Balliol College, 58 ; his train-
ing for rowing, 64 ; result of
the " Smalls " examination, 64 ;
plays cricket, 65 ; joins a
reading party at Patterdale, 66,
74 ; his rooms, 68 ; drawing

classes, 69, 167; difficulty in
writing essays, 69, 73 ; result of
his examination for " Mods," 72 ;
sails on the river, 72 ; his work
for " Greats," 73 ; dog Toby, 75 ;
joins Prof. Jowett's reading party
at Tummel Brig, 75 — 80 ; attack
of " giggles," 77 ; reading with
T. H. Green at Corpach, 80—83 :
gets a " Second," 84 ; death of his
mother, 87 ; at Bramham, 89, 309 ;
attends a meet, 89 ; at Wilder-
nesse, 90, 213, 324 ; his visit to
Rome, 92 — 102 ; Florence, 102,
107, 314 ; lessons in Italian, 103 ;
at Naples, 105 ; impressions of
Pompeii, 106 ; ascent of Vesuvius,
106 ; at Sienna, 107 ; Bologna,
107 ; Milan, 108 ; Venice, 109 ;
Vienna, 1 10 — 1 1 3 ; his first London
ball, 114; dancing lessons, 117;
at Urrard, 118; Gordon Castle,
119 ; Drumlanrig, 121, 145 ;
lessons in conveyancing, 122 ;
duties of a Marshal on Circuit,
127 — 130 ; on the Oxford Circuit,
130 — 132 ; at Dresden, 132, 146 ;
pupil of Charles Bowen, 132 ; at
Eslington, 135, 145 ; at the Dur-
ham Sessions, 135 ; his briefs,
J37t J43. 2I1 ! nrst Assizes, 138 ;
unfitness for the law, 140 ;
speeches, 141 ; attack of fever,
142, 261 ; at Holly Grove, 142 ;
reporter to the Times, 144, 185,
216, 220, 222 ; at Stobhall, 145 ;
improvement in shooting, 145 ; at
Escrick, 147, 193, 228, 253 ; his
drawings, 149, 176 ; at South
Kensington, 150, 154 ; walking
tour in the Isle of Wight, 150 ;
appointed Secretary of the Royal
Commission on Municipal Cor-
porations, 151 ; his diary, 152 ;
various appointments, 153 ; his
conversation with " George Eliot,"
156 ; at Olden, 159 — 161 ; ryper
shooting, 160 ; impressions of
Ireland, 164 ; at Chillingham, 165 ;
Gosford, 165, 209, 222, 243, 275,
281, 305, 353 ; at Braunfels,
169 — 182 ; shooting, 178 — 181,
188 ; joins the Hardwicke Debat-
ing Society, 184 ; love for Art,
184 ; cases in the Divorce Court,
1 86 ; marriage of his sister, 187 ;
at Stanway, 187, 243, 259 ; Loch-

364

INDEX

inch, 187, 315 ; meeting with
Scott Russell, 189 ; appointed
to the Mint and Post Office
Prosecutions, 189 ; at Sandring-
ham Rectory, 190 ; defence of a
murder case, 192 ; at Glen Affaric,
I95. 205, 214 ; ascent of Ben Mac
Dhui, 195 ; at Wilton, 196, 250,
265 ; appointed secretary of the
Reformatory and Industrial
Schools Commission, 198 ; at
Abbey Leix, 199, 349 ; inspection
of French schools, 201 — 204 ; at
Loch Luichart, 205 ; inspection
of Scotch and Irish schools,
206 — 209 ; his first civil case, 210 ;
at Wrest, 212, 283, 334 ; appointed
Revising Barrister, 214 : secretary
to the Trawling Commission,
217 — 220 ; Examiner for the Inns
of Court, 220, 235 ; takes part in
tableaux, 221 ; at Mells, 222, 330 ;
at Inverinate, 224 ; his friendship
for Miss L. Tennant, 224 ; at the
Glen, 226, 242, 252 ; joins the
Ambarum Club, 229 ; death of
his father, 230 ; at Newcastle,
230 ; Felixstowe, 231 ; Rodono,
232, 256, 274, 292 ; enquiry into
the Mardy Colliery explosion,
236 — 238 ; at Ipswich, 239 ;
Baronscourt, 240 ; Simonstone,
241 ; his work of revision, 242 ;
appointed the Chief Clerk in the
Crown Office, 244 ; duties, 246,
258, 278 — 281 ; at the Jubilee,

251 ; Assistant Secretary, 251,255 ;
at the Naval Review, Spithead,

252 ; at Killarney, 257 ; Cam-
bridge, 258 ; Stonehouse, 261 ;
Mount Edgcumbe, 261, 331;
witness in an action, 263 ; at
Monkshatch, 264, 273 ; atSolden,
267 ; resemblance to Parnell,
268 ; meeting with Gladstone,
269 — 273, 285 — 288 ; at Dereen,
274, 294 ; death of his sister, 277 ;
Ecclesiastical Secretary to the
Lord Chancellor, 277, 291 ; at
Torloisk, 283 ; at the opening of
Parliament, 291, 329; at Craiga-
nour, 292 ; Castle Menzies, 297 ;
Loseley, 299 ; tour abroad, 305 ;
at Bearwood, 306, 325 ; member
of the Committee on the County
Courts, 318 ; at the funeral of
Queen Victoria, 328 ; at the

review of Indian troops, 333 ;
meeting with Lord Kitchener, 334,
335 ; entrusted to sell pearls,
338 ; at Oxford, 340, 344 ; Had-
leigh, 341, 351 ; his rescue of
caddies, 345 ; meeting with Sir F.
Younghusband, 348 ; at North
Creake, 350 ; Tring, 354 ; before
the Baronets Committee, 356

Liddell, Hon. Sir Adolphus, K.C.B.,
his appearance, 2 ; characteristics,
2; illness, 21, 230; tour in Swit-
zerland, 56 ; attack of fever, 56 ;
appointed Under Secretary of
State in the Home Department,
86; his views on a young man's
education, 123 ; death, 230

Liddell, Hon. Mrs. Adolphus, i ; at
Paris, 19 ; her illness and death,
87 ; appearance, 157

Liddell, Hon. Atholl (afterwards
3rd Earl Ravensworth), 261,
342 ; death, 343

Liddell, Hon. Augustus, 84 ; Deputy
Ranger of Richmond Park, 8

Liddell, Edward, at Temple Grove,
17 ; Patterdale, 74 ; Rome, 92

Liddell, George, 135

Liddell, Gertrude, at Simonstone,
241 ; her marriage, 274

Liddell, Marcia, her marriage, 187

Liddell, Mary, 298

Liddell, Victoria, 109

Liddell, Walter, his death, 51

Lille, 305

Lindsay, William, K.C. (of Herald's
College). 250

Lindsell, H. M., 150, 158

Liverpool, 21

Liverpool, Earl of. See Foljambe.

Lochinch, 187, 315

Lombroso, Prof., 288

Londesborough, Earl of, 253

London, Bishop of, on the crisis in
the Church, 317

London Local Government Bill, 319

Longleat, 284

Longley, Archbishop, 22

Lopes, Sir H. C., Q.C. (afterwards
Lord Ludlow), 128

Loreburn, Lord. See Reid, Sir R. T.

Loseley, 299

Lowe, Rt. Hon. Robert (afterwards
Viscount Sherbrooke), 287

Lowell, Russell, at Gosford, 222 ;
derivation of his name, 270

Lucan, Earl of, 116

INDEX

365

Luffness, 165

Luichart, Loch, 205

Lulworth, the, 13

Lunacy Bill, 282

Lyons, Lord, 201

Lyttelton, Rt. Hon. Alfred, 250, 257,

274 ; at Kilspindie links, 345 ;

Hagley, 351
Lyttelton, Hon. Mrs. Alfred, 224 ;

her death, 240
Lyttelton, C. C. G., 33
Lyttelton, Gen. Hon. Sir Neville,

at Loseley, 299
Lytton, Dowager Countess of, at

Vienna, no
Lytton, Robert, istEarlof, no, 189

MACA0LAY, 348

Macintosh, Prof., appointed sub-
commissioner of the Trawling
Commission, 218 ; his lecture on
the "Life of a Marine Food-
Fish," 260

Mackenzie, Kenneth, 158, 243, 245

Mackenzie, M., 132

Maclure, Mr. , 289

Mafeking, relief of, 324

Magistrates, nomination of, 297

Maitland, Professor Frederick, 258,
299

" Majestic," the, 304

Manning, Cardinal, his appearance,

95

March, Earl of (now Duke of Rich-
mond and Gordon), 119

Mardy Colliery, inquiry into the
explosion at, 236 — 238

Mareuil, Villebois de, his journal of
the Boer War, 324

Margherita, • Dowager Queen of
Italy, 108

" Marine Food-Fish, Life of a,"
lecture on, 260

Marionettes, performance of, 103,
176

Marjoribanks, Hon. Edward (after-
wards 2nd Lord Tweedmouth),
132 ; member of the Trawling
Commission, 217. See also Tweed-
mouth, Lord.

Market Weighton, 253

Marshall, W., 67

Martial Law, debate on, 332

Martin, Baron, 125, 190 ; his char-
acteristics, 125 ; at Totnes, 129

Martin, Mayor of St. Raphael, 287

Martin, Sir Theodore, 206

Mastodon, head of a, 198

Matthews, Sir Henry (afterwards
Viscount Llandaff), 131, 239

Matthias, Mr., a tutor, 47

Maule, J. B., Recorder of Leeds,
56 ; Commissioner on Muni-
cipal Corporations, 151 ; his
chambers, 184

" Mausoleum" Magazine, 269

Maxse, Leo, at Hagley, 351

Maxwell, Sir Herbert, 38

McClephane, Miss, 283

McLeod, Rev. Dr. Norman, style of
his sermons, 81

Meade, Robert, 271

Medd, Cuthbert, his funeral, 336

Meggatt, the, 232

Melgund, Lord (now Earl of Minto),

29,49

Mells, 222, 230
Menzies, Mr., his death, 77
Meteors, display of, 71
Middlethorpe, 147
Middleton, Lord, 44
Midsummer Night's Dream, perfor-
mance of, 19
Milan, 108
Mills, Sir Charles ; see Hillingdon,

Lord.
Milner, Viscount, at the War Stores

Commission, 349
Minley Lodge, 299
Minto, Earl of ; see Melgund, Lord.
Mitchell, R. A. H., 33
Monkshatch, 264, 273
Mont Blanc, 57
Montagu House, Ball at, 114
Moody, Professor, his lectures on

figure drawing, 154
Moorfoot Hills, 312
Morley, John (now Viscount

Morley), 294, 319 ; at Loseley, 299
Morley, Earl of, 267
Motor Bill, debate on, 341
Motteram, 131
Mount Edgcumbe, 261, 331
Mull. 283
Municipal Corporations, Royal

Commission on, 151, 184
Murray, John, 327
Myers, F., his poems, 213
Mysore mine, story of the, 335

NADDER, the, 197

Napier of Magdala, Lord, his
statue, 287

366

INDEX

Naples, 105

Naples, Queen of, 113

Napoleon, drawing of, 289

Natural History Museum, 198

Naval Review at Spithead, 252

" Nep," the black retriever, n

Nettleship, R. L., 84

New Gallery, 303

Newcastle, 8, 138, 230 ; Assizes at,

187, 222, 233, 242
Newfoundland Fisheries Bill, 281
Newman, Mr., his characteristics,

61, 62 ; his lectures on Greek

History, 72
Newton, Charles, his lectures at the

Royal Academy, 221
Nith, the, 121
" Noon," the butler, n
North Creake, 350
Northampton, Marquess of, 283
Northants, 167
Northumberland, 135
Norway, 159, 273

OAKDENE, 284

Oberland, the, 56

O'Brien, Wm., M.P., 208

Ockham, 334

Odette, performance of, 200

Olden, 159

Oliphant, Laurence, 243

Omnibus, electric, 277

Orton, Arthur, 134

Orwell, 232

Osborne, Lady Charlotte, 262

Osborne trial, 286

Osterley, 252

Overend, Mr., Commissioner on
Municipal Corporations, 151

Owen, Prof., 4, 12 ; his appearance,
4 ; superintends the modelling of
the antediluvian animals at the
Crystal Palace, 15 ; his conversa-
tion, 157 ; at the Natural History
Museum, 198 ; his visit to Egypt,
200

Oxford, 54, 296, 307, 340, 344 ;
Balliol College, banquet at, 153 ;
boat races, 64 ; cricket matches,
65 ; society, 65 ; ladies' college,

211

PADEREWSKI, 273
Padua, 305
Paget, Sir James, 332
Palmer, Edwin, tutor of Balliol
College, 59 ; his characteristics, 61

Palmerston, Viscount, his advice on
entering Parliament, 189

Panshanger, 212, 251, 255, 289, 296,
298, 320

Pantheon, impressions of the, 102

Paper mill at Tavenham, 316

Paris, 19

Park Cottage, 3, 84

Parliament, an all-night sitting, 248 ;
ceremonies of the new, 291 ; pro-
rogued, 298 ; meeting, 298 ;
opening, 329

Parnell, Charles Stuart, A. G. C.
Liddell's resemblance to, 268 ;
ascetic way of feeding, 276

Parnell Commission, debate on, 256

Parratt, Sir Walter, organist at St.
George's, 234

Parry, Sir Hubert, 197

Partridge shooting, 88, 253 ; in
Germany, 178 — 181

Patterdale, 66, 74

Paxton, Sir Joseph, 272

Pea-shooters, 27

Pearls, sale of, 338

Peel, Hon. George, at Hagley, 351

Peel, Viscount, the Speaker, takes
leave of the House, 302

Pembroke, George, i3th Earl of,
197 ; his death, 302

Pentlands, the, 165, 312

Perth, 214

Perugia, 102

Pessimist Society, 269

Phelps, Mr., American Minister, at
York Assizes, 241

Phipps, Hon. Sir Charles, 9

Phonograph, exhibition of, 258

Pig-stye, a novel, 89

Pisa, Campo Santo at, 105

Pitlochry, 76

Pius IX., Pope, 94

Plunkett, Sir Horace, his plan for
bettering the Irish peasant, 349

Plymouth Sound, 261

Poaching at Boughrood, 53

Pollock, Chief Baron, 15

Pompeii, impressions of, 106

Port Arthur, 347

Powell, J.J., Q.C.,i3i

Poynter, Sir Edward, P.R.A., 150,
154, 191, 199; his lecture at the
Royal Academy, 221 ; on mysti-
cism in art, 229 ; his tour abroad,

305

Prague, 146
Pre-Raphaelites, Society of, 210

INDEX

367

Priestman v. Thomas, case of, 216
Primrose, Sir Henry, 69, 74, 158, 301
" Prince of Wales ' visit to America,"

lines on, 37

Prince's Hall, tableaux at, 221
Prinsep, Val, 210
Prothero, George, at Tring, 354
Prussia, Crown Prince and Princess

of, at Ventnor, see Germany,

Crown Prince of.
Puff-and-Dart, 27
Pyramids, mode of building the, 189

QOAIN, Mr. Justice, his appearance,
130 ; character, 130

RACQUETS, 69

Rainbow, 256

Rannoch, Loch, 76

Raper, Robert, 66 ; at Dresden, 132

Ravensworth, 8, 22, 87, 138, 166,
189, 342

Ravensworth, Atholl, 3rd Earl.
See Liddell, Hon. Atholl.

Ravensworth, Thomas Henry, ist
Baron, his appearance, 9

Ravensworth, Henry, ist Earl, his
remarkable memory, 87 ; death,
166

Ravensworth, Henry, 2nd Earl,
characteristics of, 166

Ravensworth, Countess of, 167

Reading, 130

R6camier, Madame, 239

Reformatory and Industrial Schools,
Royal Commission on, 198 ; first
meeting, 199 ; inspection of the
French system, 202 — 204 ; of the
Scotch and Irish system, 207

Reid, Sir Robert T., 143 ; his appear-
ance, 63 ; joins a reading party at
Patterdale, 66 ; dislike to getting
up, 68 ; appointed Lord Chan-
cellor, 158, 354 ; created Lord
Loreburn, 352 ; story of his father,
355 ; at Sudbrooke Park, 355

Reilly, Colonel, 118

Rehan, Miss, portrait of, 303

Rhodes, Cecil, anecdote of, 310

Rhodes, Col. Frank, 310

Richmond, Sir William, R.A., 210

Richmond Park, 8 ; skating at, 167

Riddell, James, Fellow of Balliol,
59, 61, 65 ; his lectures, 64

Riding, instructions in, 7, 70

Ridley, Mr. Justice, 138 ; at Olden,
159 ; his marriage, 204

Ridley, Sir Matthew White (after-
wards ist Viscount Ridley), 195

Ripon, ist Marquess of, 354

Roberts, Field-Marshal Earl, 296 ;
at the review of Indian troops, 333

Robin, lines on a, 36

Robins, Tom, 21

Rockingham Castle, 167

Rodin, M. his sculpture, 353

Rodono, 232, 256, 274, 292

Rogerson, Mr., 41

Rome, 92 ; impressions of, 93 ; bal
masques at, 97, 99 ; Carnival, 98 ;
the Baths of Caracalla, 101 ; the
Pantheon, 102

Romsdal Pass, 161

Rosebery, Earl of, Prime Minister,
298 ; his appearance, 341

Rouen, " Quartier Correctionnel,"
at, 202

Rowden, Rev. Dr., 17

Rowton, Lord, 341

Royal Academy, lectures at, 221

Royal, Princess, 47

Russell, Earl, trial, 330

Russell, Lord Odo (afterwards ist
Lord Ampthill), 92

Russell, Scott, extracts from his
" table talk," 189

Russell, 2nd Earl, his charac-
teristics, 325 ; trial, 330

Ryde, 12

Rye, 307

Ryper shooting, 160

ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL, 223, 234

Salisbury, 3rd Marquess of, his
Tithe Bill, 249 ; on the Technical
Instruction Bill, 267 ; his appear-
ance, 289 ; speech on the meeting
of Parliament, 298 ; on the death
of Mr. Gladstone, 314 ; the Town
Councils Bill, 319 ; the death of
Queen Victoria, 328 ; character-
istic of, 337

Salmon fishing, 119

Sandhurst, Lord, 267

Sandringham Rectory, 190

Sandwich Islands, Queen of, at the
Jubilee, 251

Sanspareil, launch of the, 250

Sargent, J. S., R.A., 289 ; his por-
traits, 303

Sartoris, Alfred, 56

Sartoris, Leonard, his marriage, 274

Saunderson, Colonel, M.P., 248, 260,
294

368

INDEX

Savoy, 56

Sayers, Tom, 31

Scarborough, 219

Schihallion, 76, 292

Schliemann, Prof., his discoveries,

156

Scholl, story of, 307
Schonbrunn, in
Schools, public, use of strong

language in, 286
Schopenhauer, 276
Scott, Dr., Master of Balliol College,

59 ; his characteristics, 59
Seal, the Great, 246 ; mode of

making, 247 ; anew, 323 ; impres-
sions of, 346
Sealark, the brig, 12
Sebright, Guy, 324
Sebright, Mrs., 324
Sedan, anniversary of, 175
Selborne, ist Earl of, 220 ; on the

Crimes Bill, 252 ; his industry, 311
Sharpies, Corporal, 70
Shaw, Miss Flora (now Lady

Lugard), 317 ; her adventures at

Klondyke, 317
Sheffield, 215, 233 ; revision of the

borough, 242
Shields, 139
Shirley Common, 168
Siam, King of, 312
Sidney Lodge, 13
Sienna, 107
Simonstone, 241
Skating at Richmond Park, 167
Skye, 204
Smart, Fish, the champion skater,

305

Smith, Henry, 59 ; his characteris-
tics, 62

Smith, Sir Montagu, Commissioner
on Municipal Corporations, 151

Smythe, Mr., in

Snow, Rev. H., 26

Socialist riots in Trafalgar Square,

254

" Socking," meaning of the term, 28
Solden, 267

Solent, the, 13, 252, 295
Solms, Prince, of Braunfels, 169
Solomon, Sir Richard, 336
Solomon, Miss, 337
Somerset House, copying wills at,

294

"Souls," origin of the name, 212
Spencer, Herbert, 194
Spey, the, 195 ; fishing in, 120

Spithead, 12 ; Naval Review at, 252 ;

Italian fleet at, 304
Spottiswoode, Mr., 157
Staal, M. de, 307
Staffa, 251, 283
Stair, Earl of, 188
Stanford, Sir C. Villiers, at Dresden,

146

Stanley, Dean, 153, 272
Stanley of Alderley, Lord, 331
Stanway, 187, 243, 259
Staplehurst, 43
Stephen, Fitzjames, 207
Stephenson, George, 154
St. John, Mr., his bears, in
St. Mary's Loch, 232
Stobhall, 119, 145
Stonehouse, 261

Story, G. A., A.R.A., his studio, 93
Story, Julian, 265
Strathallan, 162
Strathmore, Earl of, 194
Sturgis, Julian, his funeral, 343
Sudbrook Park, 355
Sunderland, 139
Surrey, Miss. 18
Swinburne, A., his " Poems and

Ballads," 73 ; at Tummel Brig,

78

Switzerland, 56
Symonds, Charles, 70
Symons, J. A., 154

TABLEAUX, exhibition of, at Prince's

Hall, 221
Tadcaster, i
Tanner, Dr., 259, 296
Tariffs, Preferential, 340
Tavenham, paper mill at, 316
Tay, fishing in the, 119
Taylor, Miss H., 222
Taylor, Sir Henry, 4
Taylor, Lady, 123
Teano, Princess, 96
Technical Instruction Bill, 267
Temple, Dr. (afterwards Archbishop

of Canterbury), at Balliol College,

58

Temple, Sir William, 17
Temple Grove, 17
Tennant, Sir C., 227
Tennant, Margot (now Mrs.

Asquith), 227, 243, 249
Tennant, Lady, 227
Tennant, Laura, her looks and

characteristics, 224 — 226

INDEX

369

Tennyson, Lord, 12, 313 ; story of,
78 ; at Farringford, 150 ; his
reading, 157 ; at Aldworth, 315

Terry, Ellen, her performance of
"Puck," 19

Thackeray, W. M., 26 ; story of, 308

Thames, frozen over, 301

Theobald, H. S., K.C., 158

Thrasimene, 103

Tichborne case, 133

Till, vale of the, 165

Times, reporting for the, 144, 185,
216, 220, 222

Tithe Bill, 249

" Toby " or " Rokins," 75

Tolstoi, his views, 276

Tomline, Mr., 232

Torloisk, 283

Torquay, 223

Tortoise, lines on a, 43

Tortoises, 42

Totnes, 129

Town Councils Bill, 319

Trafalgar Square, riots in, 253

Traquhair, 240, 252

Travellers' Club, 343

Trawling Commission, 211, 217 —
220, 223 ; report, 228

Trevelyan, Sir C., ist Bart., 156

Trevelyan, Sir George O., 2nd Bart.,

259

Trieste, no
Tring, 354
Trouville, ip
Tummel Brig, 75, 292
Tuscany,Grand Duke of, his funeral,

93

Tweedmouth, Lord, 132, 217. See

also Marjoribanks, £.
Tynemouth, division of, 230
Tyrol, 267

ULLESWATER, 66
Urrard, 79, 118

VACGHAN, Arthur, 83

Vaughan, Mr., 306

Venice, 109, 305

Ventnor, 85

Verestchagin, his pictures, 253

Verona, 109

Vesci, Lady De, 164

Vesuvius, ascent of, 106

Vevey, 56

Victoria, Queen, 38, 40; celebra-
tion of her birthday in Vienna,
112; portraits, 112; opens Par-
liament, 154 ; cost of her journeys,

L.L.

214 ; her Jubilee, 251 ; at the
Naval Review, 252 ; her favourite
ministers, 272 ; appearance,
323; paralytic stroke, 327;
funeral, 328

Victoria and A Ibert, 252

Victory, the, 295

Vienna, no ; races, 113

Villiers, Edith. See Lytton, Coun-
tess of.

Voles, invasion of, 292

WADDINGTON, M., 252

Waddy, Q.C., 239

Waleran, Lord, 46

Wales, Prince of (now King
George V.), 9, 158, 273 ; carica-
ture of, 161 ; at Sandringham,
190 ; receives obeisance of Indian
chiefs, 333

Wales, Princess of (now Queen
Mary), 273

Wales, South, 236

Wallace, head keeper at Ravens-
worth, 22 ; his appearance and
characteristics, 22 ; conflicts with
poachers, 23

Walrond, W. See Waleran, Lord.

Walter, Arthur, 26 ; joins a reading
party at Patterdale, 66

Walter, J. H., his mill atTavenham,
3i6

War Stores Commission, 349

Ward, Mrs. Dudley, n

Warre, Dr. Edmond (now Provost
of Eton), 34 ; his appearance, 35 ;
method of teaching, 35

Warre, Mrs., 42

Wash, the, 350

Watchspring guns, 40

Watts, G., R.A., 273 ; his appear-
ance, 231 ; pictures, 231, 253,
310 ; funeral, 345

Wellington, funeral of Duke of, 16

Wemyss, Countess of, 232 ; at Gos-
ford, 209 ; death, 308

Wemyss, Louisa, Lady, 166

Wemyss, 8th Earl of, 115, 166 :
at Gosford, 209

Wemyss, gth Earl of, 232, 345. See
also Elcho, Lord.

Wenlock, Lord, 148. See Lawley, B.

Wensleydale, 241

Wensum river, 316

Wentworth, Lord (afterwards 2nd
Earl of Lovelace), his view of
Lord Byron, 334

B B

370

INDEX

West, H., 239

Westminster Abbey, service for the
Judges and Bar, 312

Whales, price of, 255

Wharncliffe, Earl of, 241

Wharton, John, 136

Whatman, G.D., 29

Whitburn Hall, 139

White Lodge, 8, 18

Whittingehame, 343

Wichelo, 21

Wigtonshire, 187

Wilberforce, Dr. Samuel, Bishop
of Oxford (afterwards of Win-
chester), 48

Wilde, Oscar, 283

Wildernesse, 90, 213, 324

Wilkinson, A. J., 140

Willes, Mr. Justice, 126

Williams, R. G., 138

Williamson, Sir Hedworth, Bt, 139

Williamson, Victor, 200

Willoughby de Eresby, Lady, 1 19

Wills, copying, at Somerset House,
294

Wilton, 196, 230, 250, 265

Wimbledon, 154 ; review at, 282

Wimpole, 88

Winchester, 127

Winchester, Bishop of, on the crisis
in the Church, 317

Windsor, 234 ; restoration of the
Castle, 287

Winter Villa, Stonehouse, 261

Winton, Rev. H. De, 50 ; his char-
acteristics, 50 ; bees, 55

Wolryche - Whitmore, F., 30. See
Laing, F.

Wood, David, 289

Woodcock Farm, 348

Woodlesford, 233

Wortley, Archibald Stuart-, at
Patterdale, 74 ; his studio, 154
pictures, 155 ; character, 155

Wortley, Mr. Stuart-, 22

Wortley Hall, 215, 233

Wrest, 212, 283, 334

Wurtzberg, 267

Wye, the, 50

Wyllie, the, 197

Wyndham, Hon. Percy, 250

YARROW, the, 274

Yeomanry, medals presented to, 330

York Assizes, 241

Young, Sir Allen, 255

Young, H., 131

Younghusband, Sir Francis, 348

ZOUAVES, Papal, 93
Zwinger, Mr., 247

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